Multiple water leaks in homes lead to countywide water outages
Josephine Moore, The Register-Herald, Beckley, W.Va.
6 min read
Dec. 30—Officials in Raleigh County say a number of small leaks from water pipes in residential homes are the main cause of countywide water outages that have impacted close to 4,000 households.
"The gross majority of these leaks have been on customer homes where we've had freeze-ups ... or they've been on businesses that have been shut down for three or four days," said Jonathan Stanley, a representative from the Beckley Water Company, during a press conference Thursday morning at the Raleigh County Emergency Operations Center.
"... We have combed and combed our system and we're not coming up with really any substantial leaks."
As crews with Beckley Water continue to chase leaks, Raleigh County Emergency Operations Center Director John Zilinski said it could be next week before water is restored to some homes in Raleigh County.
The leaks in water lines from Beckley Water customers have had a snowball effect on the rest of the county as Beckley Water is the feeder to several public service districts which provide water to the remainder of Raleigh County.
For the Raleigh County Public Service District, which provides water to roughly 4,800 customers, Zilinski said he would estimate that over 75 percent of those customers are without water.
He added that customers in Eccles, Glen Daniel, Sophia and Trap Hill will likely have the longest wait for water service to return.
"It's an ongoing operation," Zilinski said.
While multiple sites have been set up throughout Raleigh County for locals to pick up packs of bottled water as well as fill jugs with non-potable water that can be used to flush toilets, Zilinski said it will take time to find and shut off all the water leaks as well as allow time for the systems' water tanks to refill.
On a typical day, Stanley said Beckley Water customers use about 11 million gallons of water a day. Since the accumulation of residential leaks which were reported as early as Friday night when temperatures dipped into the teens, Stanley said Beckley Water is seeing an extra three million gallons of water used on top of its normal usage rate.
Zilinski said he first notified about the water outages for Raleigh County PSD customers on Monday evening, the day after Christmas.
Earlier that day, Beckley Water also posted about the outages on its Facebook page.
While at a water distribution site in Sophia, Curtis and Goldie Shrewsbury, of Sophia, said they had been without water since Christmas morning.
When asked if they had ever suffered a water outage that lasted more than a week, Goldie Shrewsbury said, "Never, never this long."
An arctic blast, which swept through the region Dec. 23-26 is being pointed to as the cause of frozen and burst water pipes in residential homes as well as burst sprinklers systems in some businesses.
According to information from the National Weather Service, some of the lowest temperatures were recorded on Christmas Eve. In Raleigh County, temperatures ranged from 3 degrees to 10 degrees below zero while the wind chill had temperatures in the negative 30 degrees in some areas.
As a means to prevent pipes from freezing during these temperatures, people are often told to leave water running in their pipes.
However, this extra usage, coupled with leaks throughout the county, resulted in a depleted water system.
For the Raleigh County PSD, Zilinski said he was told seven of their water tanks, which hold hundreds of thousands of gallons of water, were completely empty and two other tanks had only a few feet of water.
He added that it usually takes up to three days to refill these tanks, which is likely when water service will be restored to all of Raleigh County.
To assist in this process, Zilinski said Raleigh County residents are being asked to conserve water as well as check on homes that are vacant or where occupants are away for the holidays to see if there are any unaddressed water leaks.
"Beckley Water is pushing out 30 percent more water than a normal day and they still can't get the tanks filled up because of leaks, because of systems in businesses, sprinkler systems, things like that, that are leaking," Zilinski said. "So that's why we're encouraging people to check their neighbor's house. If somebody's gone on vacation, these houses need to be checked."
When asked whether the county would be able to assist families scrambling to fix burst water pipes in their homes, Raleigh County Commissioner Dave Tolliver said the county does not have such a program.
He added that there are local volunteer agencies as well as the Raleigh County Commission on Aging that may be able to provide some financial support to families needing help paying for repairs.
The Register-Herald also reached out to Gov. Jim Justice's office to see if any state or federal programs could lend aid to families impacted by the winter storm. In light of the upcoming winter storm, Justice declared a state of emergency on the Thursday prior to Christmas
In an email response from C.J. Harvey, a press secretary with the West Virginia governor's office, The Register-Herald was told, "There will not be state or federal dollars for impacted homeowners. The State of Emergency Proclamation only means certain purchasing restrictions have been waived for counties."
Harvey went on to write, "The state has been heavily involved in the coordinating effort to make sure residents are properly taken care of. Raleigh County Emergency Services continues to plan water distribution locations while the state provides the requested water."
At this time, Harvey said the National Guard has not been asked to assist with those distributions. — Water distribution sites
Water distribution sites have been set up in Sophia, Ghent and Trap Hill.
Packs of water can be picked up at the Sophia Fire Department. A 3,000-gallon water tank is also in place at Sophia near the red caboose for people who need to fill up on non-potable water, which is not consumable but can be used to flush toilets. Residents are required to bring their own containers to fill up at this water tank.
The Trap Hill Fire Department also has a water tank on site for residents.
Packs of water are also being distributed at the Ghent Fire Department.
Residents who are unable to drive to these sites are asked to call 911 to coordinate a water delivery from the county. Residents can also call the county's non-emergency line at 304-255-9114.
No water distribution sites have been set up in Beckley though residents unable to get water can still get water delivered in Beckley by contacting 911.
Water has also been provided to Meals on Wheels to be distributed to clients.
