Bartlett residents without drinking water

The City of Bartlett is under a 72-hour mandatory boil water notice.

The main pump in the city had, according to city officials, a "catastrophic failure" overnight on Sunday. The water from the failure also damaged the panel that would have kick-started the back-up pump.

Bartlett's nearly two thousand residents were without water for much of Monday. The back up pump was running again late Monday afternoon. But the Fire Department still trucked in non-potable water (not safe for drinking), for flushing toilets and showers.

The city also handed out cases of water to residents, as the water is not safe to drink yet.

City officials say the pump had been leaking for four weeks, and its repair was an agenda on Monday nights scheduled City Council meeting.

In June 2014, as FOX 7 reported, another pump in Bartlett failed. The city was without water then for three days. That pump has been repaired and city officials say it had nothing to do with the most recent failure.

Some residents at Monday night's City Council meeting say the problems have nothing to do with the pumps.

"The water and where the water comes from that's the problem," says long time resident Anna Maaske, adding, "it's only going to - the water and these rusty pipes is only going to eat this pump up."

But Barlett Mayor, Norris Ivy, says that's not the case, "there are water issues just like any town in this day and age suffers aging infrastructure, this town is no different," he says adding, "lack of revenue aging infrastructure."