MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The City of Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, has a new Water Superintendent amid a water crisis there.
City leaders announced Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, that Saeed Rose has been appointed the new Water Superintendent. They said Rose will lead the city’s Water Department and be responsible for the external operation of the department.
In a news release, the city said Rose’s primary goal currently is to work to continue the restoration of clean drinking water for the area. According to a post to social media by Helena-West Helena Mayor Christopher Franklin, Rose will be paid $60,000 per year.
Rose is a Helena-West Helena native and has been with the water department since 2020, working as a meter tech, locator specialist, sewer station operator, and maintenance lead.
“His wealth of knowledge about the water system has proven to be beneficial in the search of a solution to the breach in the water system,” said the news release.
This all comes as the community has been without water since mid-January following winter weather. Helena-West Helena Councilman Don Etherly told ABC24 last week the general manager of the town's water and sewer department, W.H. Calvin Murdock, was fired by the mayor after holding the position for a year.
The Associated Press reports that water service is back as of Monday evening, but officials say much work remains to be done to avoid another shortage to the aging local system. A precautionary boil water order for the city was lifted Feb. 2.
“At this time, we have water restored to all customers,” Chris Harris, deputy director of the Arkansas Rural Water Association, told the AP.
The outage affected about 1,400 residents of Helena-West Helena. It is the second in the past year for the town 52 miles (84 kilometers) southwest of Memphis located along the Mississippi River. The town faced a similar crisis last summer when the same part of the city was without water in June.
Workers were able to fix leaks in the system, but the failed well must be replaced and other improvements made to avoid falling back into the same position later.
“We are still in what I consider to be an emergency situation and we will be in an emergency situation in my opinion and the opinion of others... until the new well is built and in service,” said John Edwards, former state lawmaker and executive director of an industrial park who the mayor tapped to assist in responding to the crisis.
Edwards said local officials are working on finding funding to address the millions of dollars in repairs needed to build a new well, rehabilitate the existing ones and make other refurbishments to the system in the coming months.
The city has set aside $1 million from the sale of a hospital building for the water system improvements, and the state has issued two $100,000 emergency loans to the city since last year's crisis.
Edwards said he and the mayor will ask the city's council to approve seeking up to $1 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's rural development program for the new well and another $150,000 to assist replacing broken water lines.
Edwards said city leaders also plan to have a roundtable later this month to learn more about other potential sources for funding for repairs.
“We’ve got to start looking ahead for options that will provide a really long term solution to the problems that we face,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.