Tennessee Ridge residents going on 5 days without clean water
TENNESSEE RIDGE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Hundreds of people in Tennessee Ridge are going on Day 5 without running water.
For those that do have water coming out of their faucets, they have to boil it.
“Well, you don’t have anything to take a bath, flush your commode, or anything like that,” Tennessee Ridge resident RC Williams said.
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“A lot of our people up here are retired elderly people that can’t pick up a five-gallon bucket of water to pour into their toilet to flush their toilets, and it’s getting in a bad situation up here,” Tennessee Ridge Mayor Stoney Odom added.
The only water source is a 6,000-gallon non-potable water truck parked at city hall. This water is meant to supply over 600 residents.
An engineer with the City of Tennessee Ridge said they had a similar experience in 2022.
“Yeah, the wells are low, and then there is also extra usage that is used on the system,” said Seth Rye, engineer for the City of Tennessee Ridge. “The stress that’s put on the system where people are letting their faucets run so their own plumbing won’t freeze, that is very understandable, and that’s usually the advice that’s given, which is to let your faucet drip so that you don’t have your own pipes freeze. People have a right to use that water, but when you put all that together, it really puts a lot of stress on the systems.”
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Odom told News 2 there is no official repair date.
“We haven’t forgotten about them,” Odom said. “We are trying our best to put this behind us and move forward so that this will not happen again.”
However, Williams said this problem should’ve been fixed by now.
“I think it’s awful,” Williams said. “We are retired and don’t need to be out in this mess.”
City officials told News 2 that if you have something to haul water in, they will help you load up to 100 gallons per household. They are reminding people to boil the water before drinking it, washing dishes, or brushing their teeth.
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“Just be patient,” Tennessee Ridge resident William Beard said. “It’s not really the water company’s fault. That’s the way I look at it.”
Tennessee Ridge residents can also receive two cases of bottled water.
The water distribution will open at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 23.
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