Several places in KY don’t have water or must conserve it amid flooding. Here’s where
Amid record-breaking flooding and historic rainfall, several cities and counties in Kentucky are asking residents to conserve water.
Central Kentucky has been hit especially hard by water shortages. Nicholasville, Frankfort, Versailles and Mercer County have all issued conservation notices.
Here are the areas where water has been temporarily shut off or residents have been asked to conserve. We’ll update when these notices are resolved.
City of Nicholasville
Update, 4:30 p.m. : The City of Nicholasville has returned to normal operations, according to a notice on the city’s website.
The Nicholasville Water Treatment Plant announced a temporary shutdown to water access Saturday in efforts to protect “vital electrical equipment” until river levels recede.
City officials asked Nicholasville Water customers to reduce water usage to the absolute minimum.
“To help preserve water supplies, please refrain from non-essential water activities such as washing clothes, taking long showers, and any outdoor water use,” the city advised in a Facebook post.
The water conservation and plant shutdown continued through Monday morning.
Mercer County
Significant flooding means Mercer County will likely run out of water Monday night and be without it for up to three days, according to county officials.
Harrodsburg officials said in a post Sunday night that once the water treatment plant is shut down, the city will be operating on the City and County’s stored water supplies.
“The City is requesting that everyone CONSERVE water to the greatest extent possible. There should be no laundry, dishwashing, minimal showers, and as few toilet flushings as possible,” Harrodsburg officials pleaded Sunday.
Stored water supplies should provide water to residents for about one day.
City officials said in a Facebook post that the water outage could last a week.
Water is available for pickup at the Mercer County Fairgrounds.
City of Versailles
Versailles Municipal Utilities asked all water customers, and customers of South Woodford Water and Northeast Woodford Water Districts, to continue to take steps to conserve water.
The utility company requested the conservation efforts Saturday.
As of Monday morning, the city said intake at the Kentucky River has been shut down due to flooding and safety issues.
Versailles still has water in storage and will continue to monitor the river, a post on Facebook read.
“There is no need to panic as there is no immediate danger of running out of potable water for customers. The water is safe to consume, and there is no need to boil water at this time,” the post read.
Water distribution is available to customers Monday from 10 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Huffman Pavilion in the Woodford County Park. Free bottled water distribution is available to customers from 11 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Falling Springs Center.
However, should system pressures drop significantly, a boil water advisory will be issued, according to officials.
Franklin County
On Saturday morning, the Frankfort Plant Board advised that waters at the treatment plant rose to a level that had the potential to impact the electrical equipment used to pump water from the river.
At that time, the plant turned off the equipment. Officials asked customers to ration their water usage and limit it to only essential usage.
The notice continued on Monday.
Officials said the water was safe, and customers did not need to boil their water before use.
This story was originally published April 7, 2025 at 12:01 PM.
