ELLISTON, Va. – A water warning is on tap in Elliston and Shawsville. The Montgomery County Public Service Authority (PSA) issued a boil water notice after an outage over the weekend.
Water bottles are being handed out at the Elliston Volunteer Fire Department for people in need. Emergency crews said hundreds of people have come by to pick up the clean water.
“All of the crew have been on site working around the clock all hands on deck trying to resolve the issue,” Montgomery County Public Information Director Jennifer Harris said.
Harris said air was found in the area’s water lines, initially prompting the shutdown.
Area residents who didn’t want to go on camera said dealing with the water issue has been a pain.
“A lot of them are fairly frustrated with the situation which is understandable, especially people that don’t have water and are used to it,” Bradley Hancock, EMS Captain for Montgomery County said.
Hancock said the boil water notice in effect currently is important to follow so you don’t get sick.
“An impact of that could be some GI issues, upset stomach things like that,” Hancock said. “So that’s why they take it as a precaution to boil the water to make sure that those free bacteria that could be in water is killed before you use that water.”
County leaders said they’re taking water samples and when those come back clear, the water should be safe to drink again normally.
“Everyone is really working hard to make sure that this doesn’t happen again and that water is restored,” Harris said.
The Elliston Volunteer Fire Department is expected to continue handing out water on Tuesday unless the boil water notice is canceled.