Bagging, clearing work continues at lake

Inmates are preparing sandbags.

Crittenden County Detention Center inmates filled more than 2,200 sand bags on July 4 as temperatures soared to nearly 100 degrees at Old City Lake. 

The bags will be used to fortify the spillway so the lake can store more water when it rains.

Marion missed most of the weekend rainfall and the lake has lost several inches of water. Evaporation rates have been high the last few days as water hauling ceased for the holiday weekend.

City Administrator Adam Ledford said Monday that the lake is down to about three or four days of raw water. Crews will return to hauling water from the Tradewater River to the lake on Tuesday. Local farmers will join the National Guard in transporting raw water.

Marion has about three days of treated water in its tanks and system, so the town is less than a week away from running perilously low, unless water haulers can keep up with the need or there is some significant rainfall in the coming days. There are slight chances for rain on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Crittenden-Livingston Water District has been able to beef up its help to Marion, pumping 108,000 gallons of drinking water into town each day, but that's only about one-quarter of the daily demand. 

Shelby Belt's track hoe is clearing the shore.

Also on Monday, Shelby Belt Excavating was busy clearing trees off the shoreline of Old City Lake. Plans are to eventually cut a trench along the edge to improve the flow of water from Crooked Creek into the raw water reservoir.

Bottled water giveaway will return on Tuesday. See this week's schedule of water distribution in the post below. 

Get this week's full edition of The Crittenden Press for more details on this and other news in the community.