Aging pipes, main breaks, bringing continued water problems for Buckner

BUCKNER, Mo. — One eastern Jackson County city is dealing with its fourth boil water advisory since early summer.

Water customers in Buckner, where approximately 3,000 people make their homes, complain their water service isn’t reliable.

City Manager Joe Bobadilla said his crews battled two weekend water main breaks, including one on Missouri Highway 24.

Supervisors at the Sonic Drive-in next door said their employees can’t serve fountain drinks right now, and all ice has been disposed of to be safe.

“We’re telling folks if they feel unsafe drinking the water to boil it for about three minutes and then you can use it,” Bobdilla said.

Bobdilla added that water samples have been sent to a nearby lab for testing. This is the fourth boil water advisory the city has issued since June 7. Bobadilla believes Buckner’s aging iron water pipes are wearing out.

“This system’s over 50 years old, and with us being a small town, we don’t have a lot of money we can put in to rebuild the system. We just fix it as it goes,” Bobadilla explained on Monday.

This advisory affects customers north of Highway 24 and in Buckner’s downtown area. That includes customers in Levasy and Sibley. This also affects the city’s only grocery store, the Thriftway Store on Highway 24. Store manager Betty Hall said she’s had to close her deli and meat departments for the time being.

“The people out here, a lot of them are on oxygen. They have to have distilled water. You have babies. They have to have bottled water. You have to brush your teeth. Your kids are in school. They’re having to figure out how to change the lunches for the school system,” Hall said.

Bobadilla said test results for the first three boil water advisories all came back negative — showing no contamination. He said a crew of inspectors is coming later this week to examine the city’s water tower.

Bobadilla said test results from this latest advisory should be back from a lab in Independence sometime on Tuesday.

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