MOUNTAIN TOP, Pa. — Residents in Mountain Top now say they've been dealing with brown, dirty water for three days in a row.
By Thursday, it was day 3 of what some in the mountain-top area have been describing as brown, sludge water.
Sarah Gardner of Mountain Top showed Newswatch 16 several text updates from the water company, Pennsylvania American.
The last one coming Thursday afternoon, saying the estimated repair time was eight hours.
Gardner and other home and business owners are asking, why the sluggish response?
"The water's a little bit cloudy, but it's not black anymore," said Gardner.
Gardner says after two days of murky water, it's now running better though there’s still some dirt collecting at the bottom of pans.
She's one of many in the area sharing pictures with us of dark water and even dirty laundry.
It's been affecting businesses as well. Cavanaugh's Grill had to shut down the restaurant for about an hour Tuesday night but was quick to regroup.
“It's a major inconvenience. We didn't have any warning or anything," said Michelaneglo DeRosa, head chef.
DeRosa says they quickly bought a bunch of bottled water and ice down the street and now are trying to find new filters.
They're serving bottled water instead of tap water, and it all adds up, and those cases are harder to come by at the nearby markets.
Frank Carone owns Carone’s market in Mountain Top.
"We've sold out of most of our case water, gallons of water, two and a half-gallon containers,” said Carone.
After reaching out to Pennsylvania American Water company Thursday morning, Susan Turcmanovich, the external affairs manager, told us by 3 p.m. that day, they'd have water tankers in three locations.
Several people in the area told Newswatch 16 that there was some confusion about why those water buffaloes weren't sent in earlier.
Some were told the water was fine to drink, so the tankers weren’t needed.
Some say they were told the water was not okay to drink, but they had to wait 72 hours before the tankers could be sent in, and still, others were told they should drink the water at their own discretion.
Turcmanovich says the company was able to get the tankers in sooner than 72 hours, so it deployed them.
Though, she says the water meets EPA requirements.
"Right now, the water meets primary drinking water standards, so it really is just an aesthetic issue," said Turcmanovich.
Turcmanovich says this all started when a valve on a tank caused a large flow of water.
“It riled up sediment that was in the pipes, and that's what's causing the discoloration,” said Turcmanovich.
Even though that water was very dark, Turcmanovich says the water is getting better.
Pennsylvania American Water’s external affairs manager doesn't have a timeline of when the water will be back to normal but says it should keep clearing up from here.
The locations for the water tankers are Mountain Top Hose Company, Crestwood High School, and St. Jude’s Church.
"It's relieving that these are here, but we're not washing dishes, we're not showering. It stinks that we don't know how safe the water is, but we're going to stick with this for now," said Morgan Melovitz of Mountain Top.
