GERONIMO, Okla_ A water leak at Geronimo's only water tower has forced the city to shut it down.
Tuesday, Mayor Edward Mounts officially cut off the water flowing from Lawton water pipes to the tower. Instead, residents will have to rely on the main water line coming from Lawton to Geronimo.
Mayor Mounts says the water tower has been leaking for quite some time, but it's gotten worse in the last month.
It's caused some minor flooding near the tower, but Mayor Mounts says that's biggest concern.
He's more worried about getting the problem fixed.
It's hard to believe that a little leak is costing Geronimo about a gallon of water per minute. And believe it or not, this isn't the first time the town has faced this kind of problem.
"Years ago," Mayor Mounts says, "when Geronimo was on well water, before we started getting water from Lawton it was very corrosive that had done some damage."
But Mayor Mounts says it should be an easy fix.
"It really isn't as bad as it sounds, but leaks in a water tower is important, you can't have you're water tower leaking, but in the big scheme of everything it's actually a very minor repair."
But before the city can work on it, they have to wait for the water levels in the tower to go down. Once it's low enough, the city will transport what's left to a local lake and then they'll get to work.
"It'll be empty," he says, "we'll be able to go inside, clean it up weld a reinforcement bar down along the seams and then, we'll be able to fill it right back up and start using it again."
Mounts says they will try to get the job done as soon as possible so residents wont be affected.
"Our only concern that we have is getting it done as soon as we can to relieve any inconvenience to any of the citizens here in town."
Mayor Mounts was not able to give me an estimate on how much it will cost to fix the leak, but he's hoping it wont be too expensive. He says they hope to have the water tower up and running by next Friday.
The Mayor also says the city will hold a town hall meeting on January 24th to discuss the sewer lagoon project and rehabilitating the water tower. It will be held at the Geronimo Elementary School at 7 p.m.
