Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Bessemer's 'let-run' policy is canceled, customers still use 110,000 gallons more than normal on Thursday
BESSEMER WORK crews repair a broken water main along Longyear Street on the east side of Sophie Street on Thursday. Crews repaired a separate break on Longyear Street on the west side of Sophie Street earlier this week.
BESSEMER - City officials officially ended the water let-run for Bessemer residents on Wednesday.
The order has been in effect since January, with about 450 people told to keep their water running. The city provides water services for around 1,100 customers.
Neal Nelson, foreman for the city's water department, said the center of the city has been the biggest problem because many of the water mains aren't very deep.
Though the pipes are about 5 feet in the ground, Nelson said pipes that were 6 to 7 feet could still have frozen from this past winter's brutal temperatures.
"With the let-run stopped, we should be close to 200,000 gallons a day," Nelson said. But the city still used around 310,000 gallons of water on Thursday, the day after the order ended.
City officials have credited residents for two billing cycles for the last four months, and have sent notices to residents to inform them the let-run has ended.
