Calling Rural Water  ... "HELP!"

By Kris R. Cash, APR
National Rural Water Association

What do you do when you’ve been on the job for just five weeks?  You are faced with a natural disaster?  Your water system is down? Worst of all you are homeless?

You call Rural Water!

Such was the situation for Louisiana’s Cameron Parish Water Works System #7, rural water operator, Kent LaBove.

Kent had just taken the job with Cameron #7 the month before when the first reports of Hurricane Rita started to emerge.  At first, it looked like Rita would strike to the west of his system, probably around the Houston, Texas area.  As the days sped by, it became apparent that Rita would be making landfall right on top of his home.

Kent and family evacuated north to ride out the storm.  Upon his return 6 days after the storm Kent was shocked.  He pulled up to his property to find nothing.  His home was gone.  Just gone.  There was no sign of it anywhere.  His hay and all of his cows were gone.  All that remained was a slab and a couple of trees. 

A few days later, Kent and his son were driving around and low and behold there was his house.  It was smack dab in the middle of a pond, 3 miles away from where it should be located.  Kent and his son immediately put on their waders and struggled out to the house in chest deep water. 

Amazingly the 2,000 sq. ft. home was in pretty good shape except for the 4 feet on water, mud and muck covering the floor.  Clothing still hung in closets and rested on shelves.  His wife’s birdhouse collection sat undisturbed on top of the refrigerator and pictures were still hung on the walls.  A new set of residents had taken ownership of the home though, snakes.  Kent killed 12 water moccasins during his initial visit and anticipates there are more still lurking in the dark.

In spite of his personal loss, Kent focused his efforts on his water system, a system that he was just starting to learn when the storm struck.  To top things off, Rita destroyed the water office and all maps were washed away in the 20’ storm surge. 

“Welcome to water,” Kent says with an off the cuff grin. “It probably won’t get a lot worse than this and I’m still sane.”

Kent attributes much of his sanity to Louisiana Rural Water Association and its Circuit Rider, Rusty Reeves.  Additionally, Kent has a lot of support from his family which he is able to see at the end of every work day.

Rusty made a point to find Kent in the early days following Rita.  He knew Kent was new to Cameron #7 and would probably need some help above and beyond the obvious leaks and power loss problems.  First off, Kent requested a generator and LRWA was able to send one out within the first 24 hours after the request.

Next, Rusty and Kent spent several hours reviewing the system.  Luckily, Rusty was quite familiar with Cameron #7 so he was able to help Kent trace out lines and valves.  They double checked everything and verified what each valve controlled.  Often they would shut a valve and open another to see where the water was going.  In the end, they were able to reconstruct the basics of the system and sketch out rough diagrams.

“Louisiana Rural Water Association has really been taking care of me,” Kent said.  “They send me someone everyday.  I appreciate it.”

Kent continues to work through the challenges left by Rita.  He feels he is blessed to have the survived the storm with his family in tact.  The job gets better everyday; and he is really learning the ins and outs of his water system from the ground up … literally.

 

Related Stories -

NRWA News Home Page

###