Editor, The Smithfield Times:

We live in the Days Point area of Smithfield. 

On Saturday night, Jan. 27, we lost our water supply. We called the non-emergency phone number, they responded with “it has been reported and someone was sent out to location.” They had no info on the problem and advised to call Isle of Wight Public Utilities on Monday.

We were able to contact Jonathan Gwaltney of IW Public Utilities that evening. To his credit, he responded quickly about the community well malfunction. We appreciated his info.

Donald Jennings, then-director of IW Utilities, contacted us Sunday. He explained the well  problems, sent water trucks and our water was restored that afternoon. We were also given a “boil water notice.” Mr. Jennings did a great job; he was very caring and empathetic. We fortunately had his cell number from previous water problems in our area. We were able to help gather emails from a neighborhood Facebook group so he could keep us all posted.

We are still boiling water over three weeks later.

We understand the safe drinking issue after sinking new well. We appreciate all that was done.  We know one challenge was availability of testing labs being open to provide two consecutive days of passing results. Would it be possible to locate or contract through the county a specific lab to guarantee this important service, with  these specific requirements, when at least 100 families have been affected?

We would like to ask if residents in our area could get notification through a text similar to when bad weather is coming or an accident occurred. When our water was out that Saturday night, we had no idea what happened, a broken water pipe, well, etc. Waiting until Monday wasn’t an option.

We urge IW County to consider and expedite the process so we can be connected to the new 500,000-gallon water tower that serves Hardy Elementary. We understand presently it is only serving Hardy.

We ask that our water bill be reduced to reflect this inconvenience, when we are now and have been buying water and boiling water. Some of our residents are going to the YMCA to shower, because of the uncertainty of the water situation.

We hope this week we can use our public water utilities. We thank all county employees who have helped us with our water problem in the Days Point area.

 

Robbie and Ross Younger

Smithfield