Florence Boil Water Advisory Extended Through Sunday; Staff Failure Identified as Root Cause
In a recent development, a severe boil water advisory issued for Florence, South Carolina is scheduled to extend through Sunday. Official records indicate that contaminants were discovered within the localised water provisioning system, which has led to ongoing efforts to thoroughly flush it out. Initially, this problem was attributed to the upstream flooding instigated by the Tropical Storm Debby. However, a rather blunt assessment was provided by City Manager Scotty Davis on Saturday, who truthfully confirmed that
“Frankly, it was staff failure.”
After an emergent meeting, he added,
“We’ve held extensive debriefing sessions with the staff, we’ve accepted those failures, and we’ve made immediate corrective measures with respect to staffing.”
A Breach of In-House Protocols
According to Davis, there were breaches in internal protocols which resulted in top-tier utility department officials being entirely oblivious of the situation for a considerable duration, after sediment was observed in their system. This led to a temporary shutdown of the surface water plant. Davis assured residents that,
“The system is certainly healthy … We’re very happy that we are now able to get our surface water system back in operation post a serious incident.”
Low Pressure and Discolouration
The local administration had to issue a boil water advisory on Friday cautioning the public of probable discoloration and low pressure, which has been triggered by elevated turbidity levels. This predicament resulted in an abrupt end to the fourth day of federal excessive force trial of suspended Marlboro County Sheriff Charles Lemon, as both water and air conditioning amenities were lost in the courtroom.
Currently, nearly 80,000 people rely on Florence for potable water, a substantial 40% of which is catered to by the Frank E. Willis Pee Dee River Regional Surface Water Plant. The city council of Florence on Saturday convened behind sealed doors to several potential contracts with engineering firm CDM Smith to overview their policies.
Need for Leadership
Councillor Bryan Braddock opined on the issue reassuring residents,
“The good thing is that it’s not a $50 million piece of equipment that failed. It’s purely down to leadership issues, which can definitely be rectified.”
Regrettably, it is not yet clear what staffing alterations will be implemented as a result of this predicament, as the city has not provided any immediate replies on this matter.
