‘I will not go without water again’: Elm City residents raise concerns over water quality

ELM CITY — Carla Stutts approached the lectern during the public comment session of Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting with a glass of murky brown water in her hand.

“This was my water last night that I had to shower in,” Stutts said. “It’s not safe. When it sets, everything settles to the bottom. If you have an open wound, a cut or anything and this has bacteria in it, that bacteria’s going to get in this wound. We’re paying $100 a month for this? Something needs to be done.”

Residents are blaming a broken pipe for the discoloration. Laura Morris, who lives in front of the line break, said it took the town two weeks to fix the issue, finally addressing the problem on Monday.

“I know there’s always been water issues, but when I moved here 13 years ago, we had communication,” Morris said. “We had water coverage. I’ve been fighting for that, honestly, since this new administration came in.”

Morris said she noticed the leak on June 21 and contacted the town’s public works staff over the weekend of June 22-23 but received no answer or returned calls.

“This is not the first time over the last three years,” Morris said. “We cannot get water coverage over the weekend. Thank God we weren’t completely out of water. I texted the mayor on June 24. I received no reply whatsoever. We’ve communicated through text in the past. I cannot see why I would not have not been replied back to on that day.”

Morris said the town finally made contact with her on July 1. She said Mayor Tawanda Moore told her public works employees would contact with her to resolve the issue.

“I never heard from them,” Morris said. “I never got any more reply after we had our initial conversation — no communication whatsoever. It (the leak) went from little bubbles to sloshing. It filled up a ditch to my waist. That’s how much water we lost in almost three weeks, but y’all want to go up on the water. Y’all want to charge for more water.”

Morris said she found Commissioner Gil Wheeler on Facebook and sent him a message about the situation. She said the next day, July 2, public works employees told her they’d just learned of the issue.

“They were just notified on July 2. Why?” Morris asked. “I couldn’t even take a shower coming in from the heat because there was no pressure. Two weeks, I called.”

Morris asked why Elm City would keep someone on the town payroll to address water service emergencies if it takes weeks to make repairs.

“We don’t live in a Third World country,” Morris said. “Water is a necessity, and I will not go without water again.”

Gabe Merando, who recently filed a motion in Wilson County Superior Court seeking an injunction to block Elm City’s 2024-25 fiscal year budget from taking effect, said Morris asked him to evaluate the leak Sunday evening.

“The only reason that leak got taken care of Monday morning  is because I went out there and evaluated it and because Gil (Wheeler) reached out,” Merando said. “I think that leak would still be going as we speak right now. I’m a private citizen. I don’t work for the town. When you do have a DPW (Department of Public Works) director on payroll, he needs to be held accountable for his actions or misactions.”

No one from the Board of Commissioners responded to Merando, which he said isn’t particularly unusual. Merando said failing to fix the leak in a timely manner opened the door to potential health hazards.

Throughout the leak’s duration, he said, water entering Elm City came in through a broken 3-inch pipe.

“All the dirt, all the silt, grime, dog poop — whatever’s in that ditch, that’s what the residents have been drinking and showering in for the past week or so,” Merando said. “It’s unacceptable.”

The Times asked the mayor about the leaking pipe Wednesday. She didn’t respond by press time Thursday afternoon.

WATER INFRASTRUCTURE UPDATE

After public comment, Mike Tolson of Mack Gay Associates, a Rocky Mount-based civil engineering and surveying firm employed by the town of Elm City, addressed the board to provide an update on ongoing water-related projects.

Tolson said the priority right now is getting the lead service line inventory up to date as required by the state Department of Environmental Quality. In April, commissioners voted to accept a $942,000 grant to pinpoint lead within the town’s water system and update maps accordingly.

On Tuesday, Tolson said the first round of inventory is nearing completion. The completed inventory is due in October.

“I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw,” Tolson said. “There was a lot of black plastic, PVC or copper leading to the houses, which is a good indication that there’s not a lot of lead in the system per se.”

Tolson said the next goal is to get some of the town’s wells up and running again. He said the wells are in such disrepair that he wouldn’t recommend getting them back online right now. He said the only thing salvageable from the well infrastructure is the hole in the ground itself.

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