by Renee Hunter

Marie Wilson recently retired after 35 years as Wooster city clerk, serving during a challenging period of growth.
“The city clerk does what there’s nobody else to do,” she said, explaining why for 30 years she also served as clerk for the Wooster Water Department, working from home until 1996 in a job that was supposed to be part time, but often wasn’t.

When Mrs. Wilson began, the water department had 110 customers and she “did everything by pencil.” Now the system has 1,400 customers and is computerized.
Until 1996, her home computer did dual duty for the Wilsons’ pest-control business and the water department.
Wooster once depended on wells for its water supply, and this led to several problems. “Our well water was horrible and smelled like rotten eggs,” she said.
The system’s first expansion, in 1979, took in households from Pleasant Valley Missionary Baptist Church on Highway 25 to the twin bridges north of Wooster. An aeration system was added to remove the manganese and sulfuric gas that caused the odor.
Then, in the early 1980s, a decade-long drought began. Wooster’s wells went dry. “We drilled five wells in one year and didn’t get enough water from any of them to run the system,” Mrs. Wilson said.
Water was transported from Conway to fill Wooster’s water tank, and use was limited to drinking and cooking.
“The men worked all day and hauled water all night,” she said.
The drought caused the city council, led by Mayor Johnnie Stone, to begin long-term water planning. The Faulkner-Cleburne Water Association – which later came under the umbrella of the Community Water System, a wholesale water company – was formed and Wooster and Guy each received a $500,000 grant to pay for piping water from Greers Ferry Lake.
“That was the seed money for this system,” Mrs. Wilson said. “It was the best thing that ever happened to Faulkner County because it gave everybody access to water.”
Area wells were inadequate, Mrs. Wilson explained, because water in the shale forms in pockets, rather than in veins as in other places. When the pockets are tapped out, the wells run dry.
During the drought, people were unable to flush their toilets after every use, had to take turns bathing and often two or more people bathed in the same water. Clothes were carted to Conway coin-operated laundries for cleaning.
Convincing those who lived on Greers Ferry shores that piping water from the lake for Faulkner County use would not harm recreation on the lake was an uphill battle, according to Mrs. Wilson.
She and other Wooster representatives argued that drinking water was more important than recreation.
“That was our story every meeting,” she said.
As it turned out, the lake has been able to fulfill both functions.
“One of the most gratifying things about working for Wooster water was having people say ‘thank you for getting me water’,” she said.