VAN, W.Va. — You never know how much you appreciate water in your home until it disappears for an extended period of time. Residents along Route 85 in Boone County endured the spill at Freedom Industries in 2014 and now are going through similar problems with the winter of 2015.
“These two are for the family I’m staying with now, these are for my mom and dad, and those are for an old lady who lives down from mom and dad,” said Jeff Gunnoe of Gordon as he filled the bed of his pickup truck with jugs of fresh water at the Van Volunteer Fire Department. “I figure that will last about two days.”
Gunnoe said the water service has been completely off at his home for two days and continues to be hit and miss depending on who you talk to.
“My water just shut off completely, then my dad’s shut off and my friend’s was just low pressure,” he said.
Gunnoe picked up his drinking water form a tank supplied at the fire hall by West Virginia American Water Company, but for flushing the toilet and bathing he went old school.
“We’re melting snow,” he said. “Melting snow in a pot on the stove or going to the creek if it’s not frozen over.”
Tim Spratt from Van was helping with water distribution at the fire department but had had a similar story.
“Our water went off yesterday, we had a trickle for a while, but it’s back on now,” he said. “It’s real low pressure, but we’ve been on boil (advisory) since Saturday.”
West Virginia American estimated about 2,000 customers were without water and others were experiencing low pressure brought on by broken lines and drained storage tanks. Crews worked in Boone County Wednesday using electronic detection equipment to find underground leaks. Company officials say much of the pressure problem is coming from leaks which are undetectable.
They couldn’t offer a definite timeline on full restoration.