WEIRTON — Residents within the city limits aren’t the only ones who have been affected by Weirton’s water shortage.

According to Hancock County Commission President Eron Chek, 211 homes north of Weirton and served by the Oakland Public Service District also are without water. A portion of the water supply for those homes is provided by the Weirton Area Water Board through an agreement with Oakland PSD.

According to Chek, Jeremy Ober, Hancock County’s director of emergency management, has obtained a 7,000-gallon water tanker and mobile purification plant.

“They will fill the tanker with potable water, take it to the PSD, run it through the plant and feed it into the system,” Chek said. “Oakland should see some relief soon.”

County officials estimate 140 livestock rely on the water supply provided from Weirton.

The Oakland PSD itself announced it would be distributing bottled water for drinking each day from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the PSD offices located at 768 Carothers Road.

This distribution is specifically for customers in the Golden Keys area, which includes Hudson Hill, Lyons Road, Northfork Road and all side streets.

In addition, the City of Weirton established a distribution of non-potable bulk water for Golden Keys customers and those living in the Weirton Heights areas without water service at the County Road Fire Station, 1500 County Road, Weirton, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. each day, for use in flushing toilets, laundry, watering plants or similar purposes. Residents have to bring their own containers, as well as show identification.

Each resident will be limited to 5 gallons, according to a notice released by the Weirton Area Water Board.

It’s the latest aspect in a weeks-long stretch of issues for Weirton’s water system, which includes an ongoing mandatory conservation order for all customers of the Weirton Area Water Board.

The conservation order was issued Dec. 18 following a series of water line breaks in the city, with a city-wide boil order issued Dec. 27 after a break in a 12-inch main water line on Walnut Street led to outages throughout the city.

Problems were compounded by the failure of a primary pump at the water treatment plant and the refurbishment of a well as part of ongoing upgrades at the plant lowering the rate the water system is able to be filled.

Weirton water officials had an agreement with Cleveland-Cliffs to tap into the company’s internal water system located at its idled facilities in Weirton to assist; however, a recent line break in that system put a halt to the arrangement.

The city-wide boil order was partially lifted on Dec. 31, a full lift of the order announced Jan. 3. A series of smaller, more localized, orders — typically lasting for about one day each – has been issued at various locations in the city since then.

However, on Jan. 22, officials notified residents water tank levels had been diminished, and some areas of the city would experience low to no water pressure. A new, ongoing boil order for Weirton Heights was issued Jan. 23.

Monday night, officials announced the city’s water system might not be stabilized until Feb. 10, with much of the focus remaining on higher elevations in the Weirton Heights area.