HAZARD – Officials in Perry County are moving forward with a plan to temporarily supply water to residents in Buckhorn still relying on bottled water.

Local and state officials hashed out a plan during an impromptu meeting at the Kentucky River Area Development District building in Hazard Wednesday morning that will connect a line from the Breathitt County water system to supply about 90 percent of the people in the Buckhorn area without a municipal water source. The Breathitt County Water District approved a measure to allow the hookup to their system during an emergency meeting on Tuesday.

“What we’re trying to do now is just a temporary on-top-of-the-ground line to feed the Buckhorn system ... until they get this things solved in Hazard,” said Judge Executive Denny Ray Noble.

The City of Buckhorn’s water customers have been without that supply for most of a three week span dating back to a December 19 snowstorm that knocked out power to thousands of people. Since then, the Hazard treatment plant has continued to incur problems with supplying water to the Buckhorn area due to leaks within the system of lines supplying water to different areas of the county.

The Hazard City Commission declared an emergency water shortage during a meeting on Monday, while both the City of Buckhorn and County Judge Executive Denny Ray Noble declared states of emergency this week as well. Also on Monday, water service was shut off to the City of Vicco’s customers as well, which includes more than 2,000 customers in the Vicco area and parts of the Jeff community.

Compounding the problem on Wednesday morning, the intake of the Hazard water plant froze over, preventing the processing and delivery of water to the system’s tanks for a time, though Judge Noble announced during the morning meeting that the intake problem has been resolved.

Officials also learned during the meeting that one major leak has reportedly been located and repaired along Ky. 15 near the Perry County Coal site that feeds water to Vicco.

But presently, officials are going ahead with plans to temporarily hook into the Breathitt County water system that will feed water into the lower areas of Buckhorn, the Buckhorn school, the children’s center, and the state park, according to Judge Noble, though he did note that about 20 homes along the ridge at Gays Creek won’t be included due to issues with pumping water up the hill to reach those residences. Service won’t return to those homes until the Hazard system is again operational and feeding water to the Buckhorn area.

Hazard City Engineer Hank Spaulding informed officials that the cost of the material to run the temporary line would reach about $35,000, not including the cost of labor to put the line together.

Considering the forecast for well below freezing temperatures the next few days, Spaulding said insulating the lines would be preferable, but he added that he wasn’t confident that those lines would not freeze. In the case that a rush of water occurs he said the plan is to install a valve that would close and keep water from running the tank dry.

Officials say they hope to have the temporary line operational by Friday.