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Weirton residents waiting for water

Ongoing issue having financial, personal effects

SCARCE — Hudson Hill Road resident and retired Weirton Police Department Sgt. Steve Falbo signed a record book after receiving 5 gallons of free, non-potable water at the County Road Fire Station. -- Christoper Dacanay

WEIRTON — Water: It’s a life-sustaining resource, essential for nourishment, sanitation and personal hygiene. And it’s become a premium across the city.

An eruption of around 100 water line breaks, dating back to mid-December, has had a big impact on city residents.

The five-member Weirton Area Water Board has attributed the breaks to a combination of the winter’s natural freeze-thaw cycle and ongoing water treatment plant upgrades, which have limited intake to unexpectedly cold river water. Sanitary board employees have battled the issues daily, with an outside contractor helping locate leaks.

Consequently, decreased water tank levels have left some areas with little-to-no water pressure. A boil water advisory remains in place for certain areas, and a conservation order is expected to remain through most of February. The water board estimates that issues may not be fully resolved until Feb. 10.

Many local businesses have been forced to rely on outside water sources to operate, and several schools have proceeded with an extended remote learning phase, with external water tanker support having arrived within the past several days.

Some city residents report significant blows to their finances and personal lives as a result. The ongoing issue has many hoping for a swift resolution and action to ensure problems like this never arise again.

Ashley Long lives on Elm Street. She’s pregnant and has another 19-month-old son.

Long’s water pressure has been “in and out,” and the water itself has appeared “milky” and occasionally brown since Christmas. She refuses to consume the water or use it for cleaning, electing instead to buy water. The dishwasher and shower have been unreliable since issues began, she added.

Long was upset about having to pay for city water amid the problems, saying later: “It’s ridiculous at this point that there are so many problems with the water. I just don’t see an end in sight, unfortunately.”

Amy Franey-Cunningham runs the virtual assisting business Mountain Girl Co. out of her Wayne Avenue home. Meeting basic needs has been like “a dance,” she said, noting that her pressure problems — which started right after Christmas — prohibit her from using one water-based appliance while another is running.

With limited water supply, Franey-Cunningham struggles to maintain cleanliness in her home, which she shares with two dogs, two cats and a husband with allergies. Her burden is eased by a $400 Berkey brand water filter, which she learned about through a survivalist personality on the Weather Channel.

Franey-Cunningham said the water issue has been “hell” and occasionally made her emotional. She noted the support she’s received from her neighbor and Hancock County Commissioner Eron Chek, adding, “My concerns are her concerns because she lives here. If I didn’t have water, she didn’t have water either.”

The Weirton Board of Parks and Recreation has opened showers at the Millsop Community Center to Weirton water board and Oakland Public Service District customers at no cost from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. The Weirton Transit Department is permitting free bus rides to the center for that purpose from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Saturday.

Tankers have come to the rescue of local schools, but they couldn’t have come too soon, in the eyes of distressed parents.

A downtown resident, Brittany Copper is a mother of 13 children with three at home. Her 7-year-old — who she said has autism — has particularly suffered from the prolonged school cancellations resulting from water shortages.

“It has disrupted my life tremendously,” said Copper, a manager at a fast-food establishment. “I normally am able to work while my children are at school, but I have to be home more since my children aren’t in school due to the issues.”

Water problems have also placed a financial strain on Copper, who has been forced to decide between buying water and other necessities, like paying her water bill. She said the city needs to “stop trying to put a Band-Aid” on its water line issues and use its money for preventative measures.

Elizabeth Hahn said her preschool-aged son, who also has autism, needs school to fulfill socialization goals outlined in his Individualized Education Program plan. The roughly two weeks he spent outside of school — due to weather cancellations and the more recent water issue — have caused her son to act out, she said.

A Weirton native, Hahn moved back to the area and into her current Culler Road home in March, hoping for an improvement from her previous living situation. She works in the Mall at Robinson and dreads appearing dirty due to insufficient showers, which she’s taken using water bottles.

The “dribble” of water that Hahn’s home does have “fills the whole house with the smell of chlorine” and caused her eyes to burn during one attempted usage. Hahn noted she recently received a termination letter from the water board despite paying her bill — “Go ahead and shut my water off. There is none anyway,” she added.

Miranda Humphrey, an Orchard Street resident and single mother, recalled listening to yet another water-related cancellation voicemail from Hancock County Schools Superintendent Dan Enich. “A combination of sorrow, regret and frustration” fills her after snapping at her 6-year-old daughter, whose calls for attention drowned out the message.

“In reality, I already know what the message says, but hearing the message allows me a moment to think about how I will need to change my schedule once again and pray that my supervisor hasn’t been wiped of her last bit of sympathy,” said Humphrey, whose work as a nurse’s aide at WVU Medicine Weirton Medical Center has been disrupted repeatedly by her daughter’s presence at home, when she should be in school.

Living at her current address since late August, Humphrey said the water board issued her a termination letter, even though she electronically paid her bill five days prior.

“To call them trigger-happy about sending threats of termination would be generous,” Humphrey said. “Now, things have escalated far more than just the boil order. Now it seems their inability to provide the service I pay for has actively prohibited me from doing my job.”

The Weirton Water Board continues to distribute free water bottles to those without service — with identification and proof of residence — each day at the Gilson Avenue Fire Station from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Free non-potable water can be obtained from the County Road Fire Station from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

Taking advantage of the non-potable water Wednesday was Hudson Hill Road resident Steve Falbo, who was disappointed to learn of the indefinite service’s 5-gallon limit per household, per day.

“This is totally unacceptable,” Falbo said of the overall issue, noting he’s had to take showers at a cousin’s house in Wellsburg.

“I worked for the city, so I’m familiar with the way they do things — put Band-Aids on it and decide not to go fix it,” said Falbo, a retired Weirton Police Department sergeant. “Instead of patching the lines all the time, how about we start replacing them?”

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