The Barton County Jail is in lockdown, with no visitation until the staff can deal with a major problem with the water system that came to light on Saturday. The Barton County Commission had a special meeting on Monday, where Sheriff Brian Bellendir explained the issue and his plan to resolve it.

“This is going to get expensive,” he said.

Bellendir said two water softeners were installed within the last three weeks. Each contains an inner tank with gravel and resin that hard water goes through. One of the tanks ruptured and 200 to 300 pounds of the resin/gravel went into the system. They don’t know when the rupture occurred, but by Saturday the jail started having plumbing problems.

The soft water isn’t there for inmate comfort, the sheriff said. It is there to protect the longevity of valves that water then flows through.

Plumbers have told Bellendir this problem is “exceptionally rare,” although some homeowners have experienced it on a smaller scale.

The gravel and resin infiltrated the area where inmates are housed. The sheriff doesn’t know yet what it has done to the system.

“Saturday I was down to six working toilets for 81 inmates,” Bellendir said. His staff went to Walmart and got five-gallon buckets that can be filled with water for flushing.

There are other complications. The plumbing is in the ceiling behind steel that was added to keep male inmates from crawling over drywall walls to gain entry to female cells.

“This is not a simple plumbing system,” he said.

The air valves that water goes through will have to be cleaned if not replaced.

Bellendir said he spoke to the county counselor, county administrator, and county attorney, as well as the local contractor that installed the system.

“The local contractor is very cooperative,” he said. Plumbers came in Saturday and found the problem has spread throughout the system. Every available plumber is there; county employees are making trips to Hutchinson and elsewhere to pick up parts. There are extra jailers on hand and assigned to the work crews so they can move through locked areas as quickly as possible.

The initial plan is to disassemble every air control valve and faucet, open the water main and “basically flood the jail and try to clear the lines.”

With the jail on lockdown, there is no unnecessary movement of inmates. The worst-case scenario would be to move all inmates to other jails and transport them to and from court appearances. However, “We’re not in the position of shutting the facility down,” he said. They may need to reduce the population temporarily.

County Attorney Colin Reynolds said District Court is aware of the problem and how it may affect the docket.

Bellendir said he is also aware of how this affects inmates.

“We’re required to provide their basic needs. ... We are meeting the basic humanitarian needs.” He stressed that there is no sewage problem at the jail. “It’s a water-flow problem.”

He was instructed to do what needs to be done and keep everyone aware.

The Great Bend Tribune will share more details on Monday’s meeting in the Thursday edition.