Up to 3,000 Far West customers still without water

Between 1,500 and 3,000 Far West Water and Sewer customers were still without water service Monday.

Company officials say Far West has been severely affected by the power outage and is working to restore water flow for its customers.

Far West spokesman Ray Jones said that as of early Monday afternoon, every Far West facility, all of its wells, booster stations, the water treatment plant, all of the sewage treatment plants and lift stations, as well as the customer service and administrative offices, were still without power.

“It's not a surprise considering they are all in the Foothills and that is where the power outage is.”

Jones explained that while the sewage system is partially operational, with no backups or overflows expected, the power outage has caused very low water pressure for most of its customers, with 10-20 percent having no water at all.

In terms of the company's efforts, Jones said Far West first focused on getting the sewage system operational, with most of the sewage plants currently operating on back-up power.

“Far West has a fairly extensive ability to haul sewage in a truck from one location to another. That is how we are dealing with a lot of the lift station outages. We do believe we have it contained and will be able to manage it throughout the duration of the outage.”

Jones said that getting the sewage system operational was Far West's top priority because of the obvious health and safety issues. With that now done, he said, the company has turned its efforts to restoring water to its customers.

According to Jones, workers are installing temporary emergency generators at the water treatment plant, which would allow Far West to continue producing water throughout the power outage.

“What water that is available now is water that is in storage in the tanks.”

Because the power was out at its customer service and administrative offices, Far West was not aware that the city of Yuma had been trying to contact the company all morning to say it had several portable generators for the company to use.

Jones said Far West has since made contact and is transporting the generators to its service yard. He said once they have them, the company would determine the best sites to use them.

Far West is also coordinating closely with Arizona Public Service, according to Jones, who said the company has provided APS with a priority list of its facilities for restoring power.

James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854. Find him on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/YSJamesGilbert or on Twitter @YSJamesGilbert.