Search on for intruder at Adamsville water plant

Dec. 16– Adamsville Utility Department water customers can be confident their water is safe to drink despite the discovery the water treatment plant was found unsecured, city Administrator Terry Thrasher said.

"We think it’s a prank, but we’re using all resources to determine who did this, and when we find out who did this, they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law," he said. "We feel like someone did this hoping the pipes would freeze."

According to Thrasher, a water plant worker arrived for work Monday morning and discovered the double-wide doors to the facility standing wide open. Locks on two fence gates were found open, although the gates were closed.

An interior office door was also unlocked, but nothing appeared to have been tampered with or was missing, damaged or destroyed.

Thrasher said Wednesday that water quality tests were performed and the results showed nothing out of the ordinary.

Because of the lack of any sign of forced entry, investigators for the Adamsville Police Department suspect an inside job.

The McNairy County Sheriff’s Department has also been notified, Thrasher said, and other law enforcement agencies may be enlisted as well.

"If it’s an employee, they’re going to be immediately terminated," the city administrator said.

In a holdover following a recent upgrade to the treatment plant that involved the installation of automated equipment, around a dozen city employees reportedly had keys to the facility because it previously had to be manned 24 hours a day.

The treatment plant is currently pumping some 600,000 gallons per day without its own state-licensed plant operator, who resigned about a month ago to accept a higher-paying job with the First Utility District in Counce. The city is currently contracting with the former employee for his services, in accordance with state policy, Thrasher said.

City officials hope to train and promote a new licensed plant operator from within the ranks of water plant employees, but have yet to do so, he said.

However, other sources close to the situation said the selection has in fact been made if not officially announced, and that the culprit may be another worker angered at not having been chosen.

Thrasher said following Monday’s incident, all the locks were changed, the number of authorized key-holders was cut to five and new security protocols are being implemented.

"We didn’t realize we would have some idiot do this," he said.