Due to water line breaks in front of the Guthrie Water Treatment Plant in December, several dead fish have been spotted in the ponds at Mineral Wells Park.
City of Guthrie’s Public Works Department Director Tenny Maker says over 600,000 gallons of treated water spilled into the pond. The line also caused several homes and business to lose water pressure for several hours.
“Unfortunately, the treated water from the leak ran into the ponds in Mineral Wells Park resulting in the loss of a lot of fish,” Maker said.
Maker says the ponds do not have a constant water supply of fresh water that is required for fish habitat.
The ponds are fed from back up water from the Cottonwood after heavy rains.
“The Parks Department started removing fish as soon as we noticed the loss was occurring,” Maker said. “It has been a process in itself due to the weather conditions that occurred at the same time. The water in the ponds started to freeze during this process and made it difficult for staff to remove all the fish resulting in what now seems like a second recurrence, but it all is related to the initial water main break.”
City officials remind citizens that the water remains safe for human consumption.
“One of the treatment processes our plant uses is with chloramines as a disinfection process. Which results in water that is unsuitable for marine life,” Maker said.
The City says they will continue to take full efforts on removing the fish from the ponds and in the early spring and restocking the ponds.
Below is the water line break in front of the Guthrie Water Treatment Plant on Dec. 23, 2017.
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