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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,” Mosley said. “Earlier this evening (Friday), I declared a state of emergency due to the water crisis impacting the customers of the Black Mountain Utility District.”

Mosley provided an update on Sunday evening.

“I know many of you are still without water, but immense progress has been made since I last spoke with you,” Mosley said. “As I shared with you last night, water was being fed into the Wallins system, the Coldirion system and on to Molus as a result of a main break repair.”

Mosley explained the overnight water flow into the system resulted in service for some in the Wallins, Coldiron and Molus communities.

“Forester’s Creek has been a problem area,” Mosley said. “But tonight, that valve has been able to be cracked open to allow some water to flow through there. They have not been able to completely open the valve for fear of causing something else to rupture, but there is water moving through there.”

Mosley said over half of the customers in Wallins have had service restored, although there are still some issues building enough pressure which would allow water to push through the entire system.

“Progress was made in the Baxter and Rosppoint areas,” Mosley said. “There were five significant breaks on the customer side of the line…those breaks are what was causing the system to deplete.”

Mosley explained the breaks were coming from five separate homes, leading to approximately 100 gallons lost from the system per minute. He added that the progress in the Baxter and Rosspoint communities have allowed water to begin to be fed into the system going toward the Putney area. The Putney tank had drained completely.

“I cannot give you an estimated time of restoration at this point, the Putney tank is a very large tank and it was completely dry,” Mosley said.

Mosley also mentioned progress had also been made in the Bledsoe community, although it will take time to fully restore service.

Mosley said approximately 750 customers in Harlan County were still without water service as of Sunday night. That was down from 1,900 customers without water 24 hours earlier.

According to Mosley, the recent snowfall and bitter cold temperatures 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.”

Mosley said progress was made, but additional breaks 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. He 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.”

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.

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 for signs of breakage. 

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.

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.