Blanchard Mayor Says Water System is Back to Normal

Residents across Blanchard and neighboring communities are getting encouraging news after days of low pressure and water worries. Blanchard Mayor Jim Galambos told KEEL News on Thursday morning that the city’s water system is now pressured up, running, and returning to normal after crews tackled leaks and boosted production at the water plant.

What Changed Overnight

Galambos said the city’s tanks and wells have refilled, with more water in storage than the system has seen in about a week. Crews also addressed leaks discovered earlier in the week, including a problem area where a line runs underneath a creek.

Contractors repaired and replaced the damaged section, and the mayor said the fix should be better than the original installation.

Why the System Struggled in the First Place

According to the mayor, the extreme cold water coming in from Caddo Lake created unexpected issues at the filtration stage. The cold conditions forced the plant into backwash cycles far more often than normal, shrinking production time.

Galambos said the city worked with the membrane manufacturer and adjusted the treatment process, including adding another acid and using very hot water during backwash and chemical wash cycles.

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Those changes made a major difference. The mayor said production climbed from about 300 gallons per minute to roughly 800 to 900 gallons per minute, allowing the system to rebuild pressure and refill elevated storage tanks that provide steady pressure for customers.

Where Things Stand Today

Galambos said communities supplied by Blanchard are returning to full service, with Oil City expected to be back up as of 8 a.m. He described the system as being back at 100% and said the city plans to monitor pressure and operations for the next couple of days.

What’s Next to Prevent a Repeat

The mayor said the city is adding redundancy by purchasing extra pumps, motors, and critical valves to keep on standby, noting that specialty equipment often takes weeks to arrive. The city also leaned on new monitoring technology that provides better pressure and flow data across the system.

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