Horse farms hurting for water after water line break
A water line break in Paris, KY has left the city with a "boil water advisory" heading into the weekend
PARIS, Ky. (WTVQ) – A water main break has left many people in Paris, KY without water since 4 A.M. Thursday. The city posted on Facebook Thursday night telling people while the water line has been fixed, the “boil water advisory” will stay in place into the weekend.
“It is a priority to make sure there is clean safe drinking water for everyone,” says Paris city manager Jamie Miller.
According to the CDC, the same germs in the water that can make a person sick can make animals sick as well. The CDC recommends to give them bottled water or cooled boiled water. However, when that pet is a horse that can drink anywhere from 20-40 gallons of water a day, it becomes a tall task.
“Quarter of the farm still doesn’t have water even [Thursday night] so we’re having to go around and fill it up, that’s been the inconvenience,” says Bradley Purcell, Claiborne Farm manager.
Purcell says it’s been siphoning water from the creek on the farm and taking it to water the horses about every hour.
“We realize things happen but its been a little inconvenient because it’s 85 degrees and we got horses outside and some of our barns have had water so we’ve been able to let the water tanks slowly fill up,” says Purcell.
Cambrey Farm also using other sources for water, since its faucets won’t turn on at all.
“Any farm, especially in Paris, that has livestock because most animals, especially these thoroughbred horses that have babies on them, they can’t survive more than 24 hours without water,” says Jason Hewitt, owner of Cambrey Farm. “I found a neighbor down the road who actually has a well, and I was able to get about 300-400 gallons for [Thursday] on the farm, [Friday] I will be returning to get some more. That’s been very helpful, otherwise I would have some dead horses in the morning.”
The city of Paris says its crews worked hard all day to get the water line fixed and it just wants to make sure everything is clean before lifting the boil water advisory.
“We issue that as a precaution to make sure in case there are any germs or things that got in the water when the situation may have occurred to give us time to make sure we are providing the highest quality water to our residents,” says Miller.
The city says it will keep everyone updated on the status of the water via its Facebook page at the link HERE.
