Dangerous Chlorine Leak Leaves Harlem High and Dry

Harlem, MT had a rough week, as a chlorine leak at the treatment plant drastically slowed down the rate at which the city was able to process clean drinking water. There was an increase in temperature, that caused a lead plug on the chlorine tank to melt, and leak the gas into the plant. Chlorine gas is extremely corrosive, and the gas also did a number on the electrical systems in the plant.

Chlorine is necessary in the purification process of water in a plant such as the one found in Harlem. Though it is essential in providing clean drinking water to hundreds of people living in the area, it is also quite dangerous, and in many instances, life threatening. One worker at the water plant had to be briefly hospitalized due to the inhalation of the chlorine gas.

"Because our electronic system was down, we weren't able to keep up with the demand of the city. Instead of running for 24 hours straight, we could only go for around 10 hours per day." Reported Richard Mohar, The Public Utilities Supervisor for Harlem. "I want to make it clear to the public however, that the city was never in danger of not having clean water," This is certainly very reassuring news, especially considering the massive amounts of lead contamination that the city of Flint, Michigan is currently forced to endure.

This did however drastically reduce the amount of water available to the city, by at least 60% more than residents were used to receiving. Though it may be difficult to deal with the water restrictions, at least residents can take comfort in the fact that the water is clean. The town had to pull together, and make several sacrifices. Sheena Pursley, a mother of 3 young children explained how this water shortage affected her family. "I've been driving into Chinook and visiting my mother in law's house to do laundry and to fill up 5 gallon jugs of water just to cook dinner." She said, and then jokingly added, "and I will have to send my son to school in holey jeans because we are running out of clean clothes!" Although the week has been difficult for her, and many others, she had no problem making the sacrifice to cut her water usage.

This leak has not only affected residents local to Harlem, but also many people who farm and ranch, in the surrounding areas, or those who require water for their stock tanks or cisterns. I spoke with several local people who were referred to the Chinook Water Treatment Plant for their water needs, as Harlem has closed down their bulk water services for the time being.

In speaking with Richard Mohar, I inquired as to how much longer he anticipated the water shortage to continue. He assured me that he will have a crew in there this weekend working on getting the electrical systems back up and running, and that it will be likely that everything would be back to normal on Monday morning.