Base agencies respond to emergency water outage Published Aug. 11, 2009 By Erin Tindell Public Affairs DOBBINS AIR RESERVE BASE, Ga. -- Base agencies responded to emergency water main breaks that occurred early Thursday, Aug. 6 and resulted in several water outages across the base. Personnel were sent home for nearly two days, and the water was mostly restored by late Friday, Aug. 7. As soon as the outage was discovered, 94th Civil Engineering personnel, Data Monitor System contractors and Lockheed Martin engineers immediately responded and continued to be on site until the situation was resolved, said Linda McEver, 94th CE Accountable Officer. Officials believe the cause of the outage might have been due to a water line valve at a nearby Lockheed Martin reservoir not fully being opened after a previous repair. The partial valve opening might have resulted in enormous amounts of pressure that caused water line breaks at certain spots around the base including near the tennis courts, the flight simulator building and the dead runway, said Mark Hall, Real Property Manager for the base. The water outage resulted in malfunctioning toilets, little to no water running from faucets and a loss of filtered water from fountains. Wing leaders stood up an emergency operations center at the 94th Civil Engineering building early Aug. 6 to discuss options among base agency chiefs and determined that personnel should be sent home on administrative leave until the water was restored for sanitary reasons. When it became evident that the water would continue to be down on base, DMS contractors quickly provided drinking water and Port-a-Potties to emergency areas so workers could continue to operate, said Ms. McEver. When personnel returned to work on Monday, Aug. 10 they were able to use water outlets again as normal. As of Tuesday morning, Aug. 11 water was still not restored to the base gym.
