BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — Hundreds of residents were without running water Saturday after Martin County Water District shut off the supply to two areas miles apart.

But those residents’ water woes did not just start Saturday — and they were not the only ones.

Alliance Water Resources turned off water Saturday to customers in the “Turkey pressure zone” and the Warfield area.

The water district announced on Facebook around noon that the water level in the clear wells at the water treatment plant was low, the system was experiencing “unprecedented flows” across Turkey Hill, and “the Turkey pressure zone will be valved off for about five hours this afternoon and then again overnight.”

For the Warfield area, the news came at 10 p.m. Saturday via a water district Facebook post saying crews could not repair a main line break at Groundhog Hollow. The post stated that water would be “valved off until crews are able to investigate further tomorrow morning.”

Water customer Misty Mills said Saturday night that her water had been off all day.

“What happened to five hours?” Mills questioned.

The Mountain Citizen reached out Saturday to Martin County Water Board member Nina McCoy about the Turkey area outage. McCoy said Alliance Water Resources advised board members that there was a line leak on Turkey Creek that crews were trying to locate and repair.

MCWD added another Facebook post Saturday night telling customers in the “Turkey pressure zone” (Turkey Creek, Route 292 north to Calf Creek, and Route 292 South to Dempsey Hollow) to expect water at 5 a.m. Sunday.

Trouble started July 20 for Turkey and Route 292. Residents had no water most of the day July 20 and all of Thursday.

Calf Creek resident George Brown said Thursday that he had experienced low pressure for a couple of days.

“You have to keep the bathtub as full as you can get it from the trickle that comes out to be sure you have water to flush with,” Brown said.

Several miles away, Coldwater Road residents began reporting a water outage early Thursday. They still had no water late Thursday night when they went to bed.

Coldwater customers reported that when they called the water district office, personnel advised the service interruption was due to line replacement along Muddy Branch.

Tomahawk, Milo, Old Route 3, Spence Branch and Buffalo Horn were not spared the week without one or two outages. On July 19, the gas company hit a water main on North Milo Road, which affected them. Two days earlier, they lost water when storms interrupted power to the Route 40 West pumping station.

Tomahawk resident Tonya Shearer was still experiencing low water pressure July 20.

“I almost have no water at Tomahawk,” Shearer said.

MCWD issued three boil water advisories during the week.

“Boil water is pretty much the standard,” Tomahawk resident Rick Harless said. “But what we all want to know is, how long is it going to be off?”

The first boil advisory came July 19 for Spence Branch, North Milo Road, Old Route 3 and Buffalo Horn Road. A second advisory dated July 20 included customers of Turkey Creek, Route 292 north to 1282 Calf Creek and Route 292 south to Dempsey Hollow. The third advisory was Friday for Coldwater Road.