Jail goes a morning without water

3/4/2013

By RANDY GONZALES

rgonzales@dailynews.net

Ellis County Sheriff Ed Harbin said Sunday his department was able to deal with a lengthy amount of time without water at the Law Enforcement Center.

Harbin said he was informed in the early morning hours Friday the water main to the LEC was broken, forcing water to be cut off until repairs were made. The LEC and county jail had water back mid-afternoon Friday.

Harbin said there have been times in the past when the water has been shut off, but not this long.

"This is probably the longest we've ever had it shut off," he said.

Without water, prisoners at the jail used bottled water to drink, and paper plates also were used. Five-gallon buckets were used to flush the toilets.

The courthouse still had its water supply, Harbin said.

Harbin said they did "get lucky" on repairs.

"The patch that they used, there was one in Ellis, and another in a state north of us," Harbin said. "Luckily, Ellis had one."