Craigsville mobile home park residents lose water access
CRAIGSVILLE — Residents of the Fordwick Mobile Home Park have been without running water since late last week due to a leak on a water line at the site. According to Craigsville mayor Richard Fox, the leak was found and repaired as of 4 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon.
According to Fox, the park is actually in Augusta County, not Craigsville, and they purchase water from Craigsville to service the area. Fox said the issue of the break was the jurisdiction of the property owner, not the town.
"He owns the trailer park, the town has nothing to do with it," Fox said, adding, "The only thing he does is buy water from us."
According to Fox, the town is only responsible for the water line up until the meter. Private property repairs are the prerogative of the property owners.
The owner of the trailer park was contacted, and work began on the issue late last week and into this week, although workers did not work over the weekend. The News Leader has reached out to the property owner and has not yet received a reply. The property is currently listed for sale on the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development website.
The cutting off of the water was a precautionary measure.
“We’re losing so much water from that two-inch break that it had to be cut off,” Fox said.
In order to help in the meantime, the Craigsville Fire Department went up to the area and provided water for residents to be able to flush commodes. In the case of drinking water, Fox said residents went to the local dollar store and other retailers to buy cases of water. According to Fox, a lot of residents opt to buy drinking water anyway due to not liking chlorine in their water.
The leak caused the spring system that feeds into the area to plummet from 180,000 gallons a day to 115,000 gallons a day. According to Fox, there were two points of failure that were addressed during repairs.
More:Augusta County builder under investigation indicted on 19 felony charges
More:Hurricane Ian to hit Florida Wednesday. What does it mean for the Valley?
—Akhil Ganesh is the Government Reporter at The News Leader. You can contact him at aganesh@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @akhildoesthings.
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Craigsville mobile home park residents lose water access
