January 14, 2018
Water shortages continue to plague Eastern Kentucky counties: Martin County has 1,300 customers dry…
When temperatures drop into the teens, the first thing many homeowners do is turn on their faucets to keep pipes from freezing.
But in some Eastern Kentucky counties, authorities are begging people not to do that because of serious water shortages that have left many people with no water at all.
Martin County Water District announced Monday that it would be shutting off water between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. because of “high water usage, busted meters, etc.” But some people have had no water at all, including about 1,000 on Friday afternoon.
Customers were informed that the water would be shut off on the Lovely, Warfield, Beauty, Wolf Creek and some others areas from 3pm weach afternoon until 7:00am the following morning.
The Martin County Warer district began in 1967 as the Inez Water District and used only Crum Reservoir as a source of water for the 600 customers it was designed to serve.
During the coal boom of the 1980’s, 90’s the county took over the water service and began also using the Tug River as a source for water. The system requires transferring water up to a storage tank on Buck Creek Hill where the water then goes down to serve customer literally “on the other side of the hill” as the saying has been for generations.
State Rep. Chris Harris, D-Forest Hills, who represents Martin County and part of Pike County, posted an update on Facebook Saturday morning that said 3,000 customers of Hazard Water Works were without water.
And in Martin County, the water woes continued as well.
“The line from Kermit (W.Va.) that was supplying our water system some water is broken in the river crossing,” the Martin County Water District said in a Facebook post at midday Saturday. “It has been shut off. We are currently getting some water from Mountain Water but it is going to take a little while to get it to our customers.
“We are also taking all the water we can get from Prestonsburg.”
Harris’ post stated that 1,300 customers were without water in Martin County Saturday morning, and the river was too high to repair the break in the Tug Fork.
By Karla Ward and Jack Brammer
Lexington Herald-Leader
