One of the more ironic results of Tropical Storm Chantal is the sudden squeeze that its torrential rains have put on Mebane’s municipal water supply.
In the immediate aftermath of the storm, officials in Mebane acknowledged that flash flooding had compromised the operations of the water treatment plant that serves both Mebane and Graham.
Mebane’s administrators initially urged the city’s water customers to practice voluntary conservation measures as the water plant’s staff scrambled to get the facility back in working order. On Wednesday, however, the city issued a formal Code Red alert to notify customers that it had implemented an emergency rationing plan once the water plant’s staff realized that they only had two days of potable water on tap.
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Under Mebane’s emergency response plan, residents are discouraged from consuming water for any purpose other than drinking (where bottled water isn’t available), “limited” restroom usage (excluding showers), and “required” medical needs. The plan also orders offices, restaurants, and other businesses to suspend operations – with the explicit exemption of grocery stores, pharmacies, and healthcare facilities. It goes on to empower city staff members and local law enforcement officials to enforce these restrictions while they remain in effect.
On Wednesday afternoon, city officials held a spur-of-the-moment news conference to share some additional details about the storm-induced water shortage with the community’s residents. Kelly Hunter, the city’s public information officer, acknowledged the severity of Mebane’s water crisis in an interview immediately after the news conference.
“We’ve raised the declaration to stage five, which is the highest level under our plan,” Hunter recalled at the time. “[But] the staff at the Graham-Mebane water treatment plant are working tirelessly 24 hours a day to get the water level back to where it should be.”
Hunter said that, in the interim, the city will be distributing bottled water at both the Mebane Arts and Community Center and Mebane’s Fire Station No. 2, which is located at 405 North First Street. She noted that other distribution locations will be announced as they become available.
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Hunter encouraged any residents with storm damage of their own to call 919-304-9235 to make a report. In the meantime, she asked the city’s water customers to bear with the water plant’s staff as they hustle to restore the flow of potable water.
“We’re working together to solve these problems,” she said, “and bring people water as soon as it’s possible.”
Although the city of Graham is also served by the same water treatment facility as Mebane, Graham’s municipal leaders have not yet implemented any comparable restrictions on water usage.
Graham’s mayor Jennifer Talley attributes her municipality’s good fortune to having the city of Burlington as a backup water supplier. Talley added that officials in Mebane have discussed a comparable arrangement with Burlington “for years” but had yet to pull the trigger when Chantal descended on North Carolina.
