About 200 in three Fayette County townships remain without water
Some residents in three Fayette County townships have been without running water since Saturday, prompting township officials to declare a state of emergency.
On Friday, the Mountain Water Association (MWA) experienced a line break, affecting about 200 households in German, Georges and Nicholson townships.
“They had a massive line break,” said German Township Supervisor LC Otto. “On Saturday, a majority of residents of those municipalities ran out of water.”
As of Tuesday morning, no reports have been made stating if the location of the waterline break has been identified, officials said.
Otto said the Fayette County Emergency Management Agency was notified about the drained system, and responders placed water buffaloes in those areas on Friday evening.
However, with the issue not resolved over the weekend, township supervisors from those municipalities got together and declared a state of emergency and asked the Fayette County commissioners to do the same. That allowed them to receive additional water buffaloes and 12 palates of water for which Chevron paid half the cost. The declaration also allowed the townships and the MWA to receive any equipment they needed.
On Tuesday, Otto and his fellow supervisors were hand delivering bottles of water to those German Township residents who may not be able to travel to pick up water, or who don’t have the means to afford bottled water.
Otto said anyone in the township who believes they may be dehydrated or are in need of water can call 911. The operators know to patch the calls through to supervisors on the ground.
Farmers in the impacted area can also call 911 if they have livestock that needs water, and a fire department will provide water from their tankers.
“There’s a lot of rural area here, and we don’t want to see livestock affected by that,” Otto said.
The MWA has also issued a boil water advisory for anyone who receives water from MWA’s water buffaloes or their service lines.