The emergency response from the state and community has been swift. The unusually high summer temperatures have accelerated the evaporation of the town’s remaining water reservoir, Old City Lake, which state water officials determined had contained much less water than initially realized.Ĭombined with little rainfall, the city’s water supply has recently fluctuated under 10 days worth of water, according to Marion City Administrator Adam Ledford. In the months since, that infrastructure failure combined with cruel luck from Mother Nature has only deepened the town’s water shortage crisis. “This crisis will not be a short-term issue and will test our community’s resolve.” “At this time, the City has sufficient water supply for our needs, but steps need to be taken to assure that we remain able to supply sufficient water for City residents over the long term,” Byford said in early May. Not long after, Marion Mayor Jared Byford signed an executive order declaring a community-wide disaster implementing some water restrictions but assured the community their water supply was adequate, as reported by the Crittenden Press.

In consultation with the Kentucky Division of Water, Marion leaders decided to take an excavator to breach the levee and drain Lake George – depleting about a year’s worth of water supply for the city. The prospect of a levee failure could have unleashed more than 180 million gallons of water on the community of a little under 3,000 people, endangering the city’s water plant and backup water reservoir, multiple bridges and the local hospital. Officials in Marion, the Crittenden County seat, faced a crisis in April when a sinkhole began to grow in the lake’s city-owned levee. Lake George held about a year’s worth of water for the small city of Marion.

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