MEMPHIS, Tenn — In an exclusive interview with ABC24's Richard Ransom, Germantown Mayor Mike Palazzolo revealed many new details about the city's water crisis, with Palazzolo apologizing to citizens and promising to do better.
Palazzolo said human error caused a diesel fuel spill that made the city’s water supply unsafe for drinking for at least a week, adding the employee believed responsible is on administrative leave pending an investigation.
The water crisis affected more than just the 41,300 people who live in Germantown, but also a major hospital (Methodist Germantown), dozens of doctors' offices and hundreds of businesses. This caused an economic impact Palazzolo said can’t be measured yet, but it is no doubt in the millions when considering tax and business revenue and workers’ wages that were lost.
When asked if the people of Germantown are owed an apology, Palazzolo said they "most certainly" are.
"I’m sincerely apologizing for the disruption in our lives," Palazzolo said. "I live here. I’ve lived here for almost half a century. My parents do as well. I take great pride in the responsibility I have as a leader, and what goes with this responsibility is taking ownership of problems and then solving those problems.”
The crisis started last Tuesday, July 18, when severe weather knocked out power to the city’s main water treatment plant, turning on a massive generator located at the plant.
Palazzolo said Wednesday night, the technician was refilling the generator’s diesel tank and allowed the fuel to overflow and spill after it was full for reasons that are still unclear. The fuel truck’s supply wasn’t turned off until as much as 150 gallons of diesel spilled. The fuel flowed down a slope, contaminating the soil above piping that feeds into two giant underground water tanks, which hold around 4 million gallons of water.
When crews started flushing the tanks, they didn’t know a pipe about five feet underneath the contaminated soil had a hole in it, which started sucking the fuel into the storage tanks and making the problem even worse.
Ransom asked Palazzolo why the hole wasn’t discovered earlier through regular maintenance.
“It is three to five feet underground and regrettably you can’t inspect every square inch of piping that’s underground in our community. There are hundreds of miles of pipes,” Palazzolo said.
Remedies Revealed
Palazzolo said in the next 30 days, he hopes to let both homeowners and businesses know how much of a credit they will get on their bill for going so many days without water. Also, a hotline and email will be set up for people to make their case as to why they deserve more money for the inconvenience the crisis caused. Finally, efforts are underway to secure federal funding for businesses and workers who lost revenue and wages.
“It’s by far the biggest crisis and I’ve been in (elected) office in Germantown for 19 years,” Palazzolo said.
Lessons Learned
Palazzolo also admitted it was a mistake to only have two news conferences during the 7 to 8 days of the crisis to keep the public updated on what was happening.
“In hindsight, having more access not only to the media but to our own residents on a twice a day basis, mid-morning and maybe late afternoon, would have been better once we developed a rhythm of knowing. We will share the test results. We’ll share the mapping. We’re not hiding any of that by any means,” he said.
The mayor also said he’s ordering an independent review into not only what caused the crisis, but how he and his team managed it. He expects that will take 90 days, but he hopes to win back the trust he and his city have lost from the public.
“We will make sure that we begin to earn confidence back over time. The only thing I can do is let my actions from this point forward demonstrate that,” he said. “I will tell you, Richard and the people of Germantown, that is my primary goal.”
A town hall meeting Thursday night will allow citizens to ask their own questions about what happened. The mayor and other experts will be at the Germantown Performing Arts Center (GPAC) from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 pm.
To see Richard Ransom’s full and unedited interview with Germantown Mayor Mike Palazzolo, click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2.