Without water, Merrill residents are making do

Selles, who lives in Merrill, put in the grass earlier this week. But after the city’s water supply ran dry shortly after midnight Wednesday, he’s not sure if his new lawn will make it.

That’s an inconvenience. Having water for drinking and cooking is another matter.

That’s why Bill Heinrich, co-owner of B&D Mobile Support of Klamath Falls, got a call at 1:30 a.m. His company, which was called to help after Hurricane Katrina and has worked at several forest fires and disasters, provided two water tankers, one filled with 2,000 gallons of water and one with 3,500.

Heinrich was stationed at Merrill Elementary School and his partner, Dave Jensen, parked at Merrill City Hall. The tankers filled at fire hydrants in Malin, then drove to Merrill. Jensen refilled his truck late that afternoon, and said the trucks likely would remain in the town through the night.

Helping out

“Everybody’s helping everybody,” Jensen said. “Some people have been here eight to 10 times, helping neighbors.”

Just how long Merrill will be without water is uncertain.

Bob Bunyard, of the Klamath Pump Center, was called to help at 1 a.m.

“I told them there was nothing I could do, you guys are out of water,” Bunyard said. “I can’t pull a rabbit out of a hat.”

Bunyard said the outage resulted because the water level at the city well dropped. The pump was at a depth of 70 feet, but he said it will be lowered another 40 feet.

Bunyard said it’s hoped the shaft to extend the pump deeper will arrive today and be installed by Friday afternoon.

Throughout the day Wednesday, Heinrich and volunteer Nate Hughes filled all sorts and sizes of containers — from tubs to bottles — for people like Selles.

“I turned my water on last night and there wasn’t any,” Selles said. “I searched all the pipe for a break and I didn’t find one.”

Selles and others learned about the outage, some by calling the Merrill Water Department, some by the city police.