Hamilton resumes operations at water treatment plant

The city of Hamilton resumed treating its water supply on Friday evening after a broken dam left it too muddy to treat for nearly two days.

The city of Hamilton resumed treating its water supply on Friday evening after a broken dam left it too muddy to treat for nearly two days.

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The city of Hamilton resumed treating its water supply on Friday evening after a broken dam left it too muddy to treat for nearly two days.

The city of Hamilton resumed treating its water supply on Friday evening after a broken dam left it too muddy to treat for nearly two days.

Along the Buttahatchee River, Hamilton's only source of drinking water is anything but clear. The city of Hamilton and surrounding communities have been forced to conserve water, which meant closing schools and even some businesses.

"OK, I am a business owner and also a mom of three children," Makayla Milushi said. "So, them being out of school, I thought it was a relief. Nice little vacation, but then, go into work, finding out that we do have to close because the water supply is limited, has been a crisis for us. Small business."

Friday afternoon, Hamilton Mayor Bob Page showed WVTM 13 the latest sample of water collected from the river. While it's still not what it should be, he says it's a big improvement from earlier in the day.

"Our water treatment plant, purification plant, could not handle the sediment and pollution that was in the river," Page said.

City and county leaders say it proved to be much harder to figure out how the problem started. After all, there's been no significant rainfall recently. Ultimately, the city and county had to rely on the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency's helicopter to pinpoint the root of the problem.

"And we located the source, which was a broken dam on some private property, north of Hamilton," Marion County EMA director Eric Terrell said.

At 8 a.m. Saturday, free water will be handed out near the Marion County Regional Airport, just behind the local Walmart. It's a way to ensure people make it safely through another day of intense heat.

"We'll be able to just drive up, have the water set in their trunk or their backseat or in the back of their pickup, and just drive on right back home," Hamilton assistant fire chief Matt McCracken said.

Residents are anxious for better days.

"I hope that the community comes together and we can all help each other out in this hot weather," Milushi said.

With water being treated again, the mayor says he expects things to hopefully be more normal by Sunday.