UPDATE: Edina Water Emergency Temporarily Fixed, Customers Asked to Conserve Water Through Holiday Weekend

Edina, Missouri – Friday, May 24, 2019 – 3:40 p.m.

According to the City of Edina Superintendent of Utilities Joe Dimmit, the cause of the loss of water to the Edina water tower was found to be a faulty valve. The valve, located at the water tower pump station on the northeast edge of town, was not allowing enough water to be pumped into the tower.

“This is the best scenario we could have hoped for,” said City Superintendent of Utilities Joe Dimmit. “We did not lose any water. The faulty valve wasn’t allowing enough water to flow into the tower. We have opened that valve up manually and the tower is starting to refill. We are still asking Edina water customers to conserve water through the weekend to give the tower time to fill back up.”

The Edina water tower commonly holds about 32-feet of water inside. Today, the tower got down to about ten-feet because it was not refilling.

City of Edina employees, which includes the City Work Crew and Edina Police Department, and a couple of City Council members spent the morning and most of the afternoon looking for a massive leak, which was believed to have released an enormous amount of water. They were relieved to discover the problem was a valve.

The faulty valve was discovered by a technician from the Clarence Cannon Wholesale Water Commission around 3:20 p.m.

According to the City Wastewater Superintendent, the low water level in the water tower was originally discovered during a routine daily check of the system by city personnel. An alarm should have sounded when the valve malfunctioned but failed. If it had not been for the daily check on the system, the problem could have been much worse.

Original Post Below

Edina, Missouri – Friday, May 24, 2019 – 11:00 a.m.

*Correction: The original story reported the water tower was holding only eight feet of water, which was incorrect. New water tower level readings are being taken and will be reported as soon as they become available.

City of Edina water customers are being asked to conserve water after a major water loss was discovered by city workers and officials.

According to Edina Mayor Steve Peters, the city has lost approximately 400,000 gallons between Wednesday or Thursday of last this week and this morning, which could be caused by a leak in Edina’s water main.

According to Edina City Clerk Margaret Gibson, the Edina water tower has a spherical capacity of 200,000 gallons.

“It is affecting the water pressure around town,” said Edina Mayor Steve Peters. “The problem is we can’t find it. We have everyone out looking for it, but, with the rain we’ve been getting, it’s almost impossible to tell where the leak is. The next step is to use dye that can detect chlorine in the water so at least we can get to a starting point.”

“According to the readings, the water tower level has fallen because of the leak. It cannot keep up, which is why Edina water customers are being asked to conserve,” said Edina City Clerk Margaret Gibson.

So far today, Edina has had two mid-morning rounds of rain with another round of rain expected around 3:00 p.m. or 4:00 p.m., which could be severe, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist Partick Walsh. Edina is at a slight risk for severe weather throughout the day.

Edina residents are also asked to be on the lookout for the water main break. If water is seen spouting or emerging from the ground, please report the location to the Edina City Hall immediately at (660)397-3251.