Neelyville, Mo. under boil water order after water line break

NEELYVILLE, Mo. (KFVS) - Residents in Neelyville, Missouri spent the day without water after a water line break early Monday morning.

“Our businesses can’t open, like the Mexican restaurant can’t open because there’s no water--the schools had to shut down,” said Neelyville resident Amanda Collier.

Collier says water outages in town are extremely challenging. Another water line break last month left her without water. She was caring for her brother at the time, who was in hospice care, before he passed away.

“It’s pitiful, I mean not having water is okay for you or I or are younger, but what about our elderly, what about my brother who was on hospice, laying in the bed by the toilet that wouldn’t flush,” Collier said.

Neelyville Mayor Rhonda Burson said the city’s aging water system puts them at risk for more problems.

“It is like 50 or 60 years old, and we are waiting on a grant to replace what needs to be replaced, but you do what you can do with what you got,” Burson said.

The most recent water break happened early in the morning on October 2, while the Butler County Fire Department responded to a fire.

“They had a combine catch fire,” Burson said. “The couple of trucks that went out, they filled up their tanks on the Butler County main line and what happened was that the pressure of turning the valves on and off busted the line.”

Burson tells me she tries to get the word out as soon as possible when things like this happen.

“I went on my group text and told everybody and then on my Facebook and told everybody and of course not everyone is on there but word spreads,” Burson said.

Meanwhile, Collier is calling for more communication from the city on these issues.

“I understand that it is not in the city’s control, but the way they handle it most certainly is,” Collier said.

Mayor Burson said they’re posting updates on the water issues on the city’s Facebook page.

Once the water is turned back on, residents will be under a boil water order.

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