A state of emergency is still in effect in the village of Whitehall following a dramatic drop in the local reservoir’s level.
Trucks are dropping off pallet after pallet of water bottles and gallon jugs at the local firehouse on the second morning without water in the Washington County village. More than 1,200 homes have limited or no water.
Cars line up as residents wait to pick up their daily allotment. Elizabeth Yanklowitz is a local school teacher.
“The school currently has no heat, obviously, because it's running on boilers, we can't flush toilets, obviously, because thew whole water situation, it's rough. And now we're forced basically to go semi-remote for the time being until the situation is figured out I mean I live out in the country so I have water, I'm grateful for that obviously, and I've told friends and family members, 'hey, if you need a shower, my door is open,” said Yanklowitz.
The reservoir for the village’s water treatment plant, Pine Lake, is severely drained. Local leaders shut off water late Sunday night. Beginning Monday, local volunteers started organizing the relief effort. American Red Cross Community Disaster Program Manager Mike Tripodi is on hand.
“Really the big thing is for people to be safe. So, making sure that we have potable water here. We have some potable water tanks. New York State has brought in these 500-gallon tanks. We also have a warming center set up at the Recreation Center, so that way if people don’t have heat due to the lack of water they can come get warm for a little bit. And then we are going to be here until the need for potable water has been restored. I know they are diligently working on that right now, but it is going to be, even after water is restored, it’s going to be boil water for a few days. So we will have water available during that time also,” said Tripodi.
Overnight, town officials were able to slowly refill the tank at the village’s drinking water treatment facility. Over the next two days, residents should see water return to the system.
Mayor Francis Putorti and officials from the county and state are coordinating their efforts.
“It’s a temporary thing right now, we don’t have the flow coming in that we want. Pine Lake is down quite a bit so we’re stressing conserve, conserve, conserve and also boil water, you can’t drink it. It’s going to be boil water for at least three days or four days. I’ve said we need rain. That’s the thing. Pine Lake is down about 12-15 feet and so it’s only a temporary thing. So, if we keep draining all this water and we don’t got a lot of rain coming in, we’re going to be in another mess down the road again very shortly,” said Putorti.
The village’s treatment plant typically gets around 500 gallons per minute. Now it’s hovering around 230 gallons per minute. Putorti says they’re planning on installing a pump to assist flow.
Governor Kathy Hochul told reporters Tuesday in Albany that her administration is responding.
“My head of Emergency Services and Homeland security has briefed me on this. We are sending water. We are working to restore normalcy to this community and to identify the source of why the water is not drinkable, why it is not drinkable for humans right now. So, my team is all over this and we’re not leaving until we’ve solved this problem,” said Hochul.
Matthew Vaughan has lived in Whitehall for two years. He considers himself lucky.
“Oh it was shocking. You start thinking, ‘OK, I’ve gotta have toilet, I gotta have laundry, I’ve gotta have something to drink,’ and you start thinking of all the logistics and stuff like that. So, it was quite dramatic at first, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right? Me being just a single guy it’s really not that bad, but I feel sorry for people who got three, four, five kids plus being married. It’s a real imposition to a lot of people,” said Vaughan.
Patricia Tisi is carrying a case of water bottles to her apartment just steps down the road from the firehouse.
“I live on Main Street here in Whitehall and I have a 7-month-old. Luckily I breastfeed, so, it hasn’t been too much of a problem. Honestly I was pretty shocked. I’ve never been through this before but we’re just making due with what we can, hope that this will be kind of an eye-opener, lesson for people to try to conserve water more. Shorter shower times, shut off the water while you’re brushing your teeth,” said Tisi.
Local officials ask anyone who is homebound and in need of assistance to call 518-499-0871.