A citywide water outage in Mary Esther on June 17 exposed decades-old infrastructure problems after a vehicle hit a fire hydrant.
🏗️ The city secured a $3.5 million grant to replace part of the water main system, but additional upgrades are still needed.
📢 Officials pledged to improve emergency alerts and public communication after facing criticism during the crisis.
MARY ESTHER — A broken fire hydrant led to a complete citywide water outage on June 17, exposing decades-old vulnerabilities in Mary Esther’s water infrastructure and spurring city officials to push for major system upgrades.
At a council meeting on July 7, City Manager Jared Cobb and Jacobs Engineering’s Ernie Nolan gave a detailed account of what went wrong — and what’s being done to fix it.
The incident began around 4:30 p.m. on June 17 when a vehicle struck a fire hydrant at 325 W. Miracle Strip Parkway, near U.S. Highway 98. Water started gushing out of the broken hydrant, undermining the eastbound lane of the roadway and threatening a catastrophic washout.
“When I arrived, I was looking at it blowing sand,” said Nolan, Jacobs’ senior project manager. “It had blown half of [Highway] 98 away in like no time. You’re talking a six-inch just open [pipe]. So 98 would have just been gone.”
Efforts to isolate the hydrant failed due to a lack of functional shutoff valves — a problem Nolan said dates back decades to when road construction crews paved over them during a dispute with the city.
“That’s why we can’t isolate that line without shutting all the water off for the city,” Nolan said. “It’s been paved over probably several times since.”
With no better option, the city shut off all three water towers to prevent total system loss, triggering a boil water notice and a days-long disruption as repairs and mandatory testing were completed.
Nolan defended the call to cut citywide water: “That was just based off of what I saw at the site. It confirmed it later, because about three in the morning, I handed (unidentified person) up the concrete block that was holding the hydrant — it had completely come loose.”
Cobb acknowledged communication failures in the hours after the break, noting that the city’s primary emergency notification system did not function as expected.
“We eventually went to Okaloosa County… we were able to use [Alert Okaloosa] to get the information out to quite a few folks at about midnight,” he said.
In the aftermath, the city added a backup notification system and is considering integrating utility contact updates into its online bill payment platform.
“It was not perfect. We want to make sure we use this as an opportunity to improve,” Cobb said.
The boil water notice was extended for several days due to required testing by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). One test returned a positive result for bacteria, necessitating a second 24-hour retest before service could safely resume.
Councilwoman April Sutton praised Jacobs Engineering for their effort during a grueling June: “I saw them in holes with buckets actually digging out water. I’d like to commend all of Jacobs for going above and beyond.”
A long-awaited solution may finally be on the horizon.
Cobb and Public Works Director Shawn Lindsey announced that Mary Esther secured a $3.5 million grant — half of its original $7 million request — to replace part of the aging water main system on the south side of U.S. 98.
“We’re replacing about half of the water line on the south side of 98 through town,” Cobb said. “It will be a huge improvement to our existing system.”
Still, questions remain about how much of the overall system remains vulnerable. Councilman Larry Carter asked whether future hydrants could be shielded to prevent further damage.
Nolan said that due to Florida Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations, protective barriers aren’t allowed. Instead, modern hydrants are designed to break away safely when struck, unlike the older ones that failed in June.
Councilwoman Susan Coxwell emphasized the importance of educating the public about the time required for mandatory water testing.
“A lot of people weren’t understanding why it wasn’t our holdup,” she said. “This was standard.”
A Mary Esther resident asked about the total cost of the incident and whether businesses could file insurance claims for lost revenue.
Cobb said staff are still compiling costs, which include notifications, staff time, repairs, and traffic control.
“We’re still adding up those expenses,” he said, adding that the at-fault driver’s insurance company has accepted liability.
Despite the turmoil, officials expressed optimism that lessons learned — and new funding — would help modernize the system.
“This won’t solve the problem on the other side of 98,” Lindsey noted. “But we’re working toward that, too.”
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