Cold causes water issues in Barnard

SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM
Barnard City Hall is shown Monday afternoon. The city is seeking leaders to help the town complete necessary projects.

BARNARD, Mo. — Last month’s negative temperatures brought on reported water difficulties throughout Barnard, including lowered water pressure and some reporting a near complete loss of water. But it’s one of several issues that city officials are struggling to solve for the long term in a town of barely 200.

Mayor Glenn Miller told The Forum that while he knew people had experienced a reduction in water pressure — those farther away from the water tower more so than those closest to it — during that mid-January bitter cold spell, he hadn’t heard anyone had completely lost water.

He explained the process that city Water Superintendent Jim Smith goes through during cold temperatures to “keep the water moving.” The water tower typically refills during off-peak hours, like overnight. It is turned off during the day while most people are at work or school so that the water level continues to drop, thus continuing to prevent the tower from freezing.

As people returned home and began using water again, they experienced the low water pressure issue. The tower is turned back on to fill overnight which again keeps the water moving.

Miller said that when the 100,000-gallon tower was constructed to replace a small, elevated water storage tank that had become outdated, there was some discussion of the possible need for a heating system. But in the end, it was decided the location didn’t get that cold during winter and one was not purchased as part of the project.

“We do have some (American Rescue Plan Act) funds,” he said. “We’re in the process of trying to find an appropriate heating unit and have it installed.”

The city has been working with the Missouri Rural Water Association on the issue, Miller said, but it, like other projects the city is trying to tackle, is moving slowly.

Maintaining water and wastewater systems can be especially complicated for small communities like Barnard, which tallied only 201 people in the 2020 U.S. Census — and that figure is itself a 22-percent drop from the 257 who were counted in 2000. Much of the infrastructure involved has to be maintained and must meet state and federal standards. That’s been an obstacle specifically for the city’s lagoon, Miller said, which does not meet specifications set by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

“It’s been a bit of a cluster,” Miller said.

At some point, city officials may look into hiring PeopleService, a company that manages water and wastewater systems across the region including for the city of Maryville and Nodaway County Public Water District No. 1. But the lack of resources for a community the size of Barnard is only compounded by not having many city officials who can take the lead in trying to solve the existing problems, much less avoid new ones, whether it’s with the water system, roads or anything else. And even when resources are available, navigating state and federal grant processes can be slow, especially when trying to figure them out on the fly.

“We’re trying to do a lot with very little,” Miller, a business owner who can only devote so much time to his role as mayor, said. “… We have no outside influx of funding.”

One way the city had tried to address the funding issue was with a proposal for a city sales tax that could be used for general municipal purposes. With only 29 votes cast, the 1/4-cent tax was voted down overwhelmingly last year, 20-9.

“It’s gotten to where our small town population can’t cover everything that everybody expects,” Miller said.

This leads to increased cost of daily water and sewer rates, which Miller said he knows nobody wants.

But even conducting regular business has become difficult for the Barnard Board of Aldermen. Miller said there’s a vacancy on the board currently after one board member resigned for health reasons, and the board is still seeking his replacement. The last couple of board meetings have been held over the phone just to make quorum so the city could pay the bills.

“We’re searching for people,” Miller said. “It isn’t going to happen overnight. (Especially) with everybody moving out of town.”

Two seats on the Barnard Board of Aldermen are up for election on April 2. No one filed to run.

SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM
The Barnard water tower is shown on Monday. Residents experienced water pressure issues during a bitter cold spell in mid-January.