FERRIDAY — Ferriday residents were without water again Friday morning.

The water plant had to be turned off while the water was re-filtered, Mayor Glen McGlothin said.

A problem with the plant’s filter began to manifest itself after a power outage at the plant earlier this week, and Friday morning the water quality was so bad it had to be re-filtered, McGlothin said.

“It would have stained everything at people’s houses,” he said.

While the plant was off, people continued to use water and eventually the tank was drained, so even when water was restored users faced hours of low water pressure.

“Even if it is trickling, it is better than black water,” McGlothin said.

The problem was compounded by the water tank’s structural problems — the boil-water order the town is under was enacted because of a hole in it — keep the tank from being filled to capacity, meaning that water runs out that much quicker, McGlothin said.

“This plant is falling apart from lack of maintenance,” he said. “It’s like when a car goes bad — first it’s the brakes, then the next day it’s the motor and the next day it’s the transmission.”

McGlothin said he’s afraid that one day the plant will fail altogether, and though he would like to, he’s not taking a trip to Washington, D.C., with other local leaders to ask for funding for the plant. He’s also canceled his vacation.

“I would like to look people in the eye and tell them how serious this situation is, because apparently letters and e-mail aren’t enough, but I don’t want to be that far from home when this thing shuts down,” he said.

Plans to build a new plant to fix the water problems have been proposed, but McGlothin said that still leaves the problem of what to do for water in the time it takes to build the new plant.

Ultimately, despite everyone’s desire not to, that means the town will have to spend some money on the existing plant

“I am stuck with an old plant until I get a new one,” he said. “There is going to be a day when we can’t get it running. The sky is falling, Chicken Little.”