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Many parts of Harlan County have been suffering water outages recently due to the severe winter weather which has impacted the county along with much of the nation over the last weeks.

Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley addressed the issue on Friday via a live video on social media.

“As many of you all are aware, we have been experiencing a water outage in parts of Harlan County for the last 10 days,” Mosley said. “Earlier this evening, I declared a state of emergency due to the water crisis impacting the customers of the Black Mountain Utility District.”

According to Mosley, the recent snowfall and bitter cold temperatures have impacted BMUD’s ability to keep water service available.

“The communities of Wallins, Coldiron, Happy Top, and Molus have experienced an on again/off again outage for the last 10 days.”

Mosley said progress has been made, but additional breaks have occurred leading to a worse situation.

“BMUD’s crews, with the assistance of the Kentucky Rural Water Association…have been working long, long hours…trying to get a grip on the situation,” Mosley said. “They have also received assistance from the Harlan County Road Department.”

Mosley said much work was left to be done.

“Today revealed that we were going in a backward pace,” Mosley said.

Mosley explained that temperatures finally rose above freezing, resulting in more broken water lines being located.

“Some of the breaks have been main line breaks, others have been service line breaks,” Mosley said. “A few tanks had to be shut off…to keep water in the tanks so personnel can keep water in the line and valve off section by section.”

Mosley said crews will have to go line by line to locate all the breaks.

Mosley went over details of the state of emergency.

“We have requested the state help us by dispatching qualified personnel with leak detection equipment from other areas of the state to assist us,” Mosley said. “We’ve also asked for gallons and bottled water to continue to be distributed.”

According to Mosley, truckloads of water have been acquired to be distributed.

Mosley noted BMUD lost approximately half of their field staff over the course of the emergency.

“We will also be needing assistance from our local fire departments,” Mosley said.

Mosley asked those who still had water service to conserve water as much as possible.

“Help your friends and neighbors all you can by conserving water over the next few days,” Mosley said. ‘Use as little as possible to help get these tanks recovered and replenished. You can also look for busted pipes.”

Mosley asked residents to check their water meter if possible, to see if it was broken. Signs of a broken meter include water running outside the meter.

“At this time, I cannot in good faith give you a time for restoration,” Mosley said. “What I can tell you is you are going to hear directly from me until this crisis is over.”

Mosley stated he will make sure the public receives accurate information as it is available. He pointed out that many areas in Kentucky are having similar water issues due to the severe winter weather.

Mosley provided an update on Saturday, stating additional outages had occurred as expected with warmer temperatures. He mentioned several personnel from other locations arrived to help with the water situation.

Mosley provided pictures of several issues near US 119.

“In an attempt to try to get water on down to the Molus area, they have figured out a way to shut off what goes underneath US 119…to see if they can get water on to Molus,” Mosley said.

Mosley noted water lines underneath a highway require special equipment to repair. He mentioned new outages had occurred in Pathfork, Baxter, Bledsoe, and other communities.

Updates on the situation including information for water distribution for those without water can be found on the Harlan County Emergency Management Facebook page.

As of this writing, the situation is ongoing.