Frustrations are boiling over in North Jay after a boil water notice has been in place for nearly two weeks.
Four water main breaks in late August shut down water for some North Jay residents for multiple days, leading to about 200 people being told to not drink their tap water.
“I went over to Wilson Lake, and I got some Mason jars full of water, and that’s how we washed up for a while,” said Jordan Chapman, a North Jay resident.
Since then, they’ve been under a boil water notice, which will continue at least another day or two after the state lab found bacteria in one of the most recent water samples.
North Jay Water District Supervisor Ben Wright is currently delivering new samples to Augusta.
“Make sure nobody takes the risk of getting sick until you get those results back. If something were to still be in there, bacteria, you wouldn’t want someone drinking it,” Wright said.
Elizabeth Smith said the boil notice is costing her about $30 more at the grocery store.
“I don’t usually buy water bottles. The price has gone up so high on everything. So, it adds to my grocery bill. My kids aren’t juice kids, they’re not soda kids, they like water,” Smith said.
The water district blames older pipes from the 1940s and ‘50s for the cause of the breaks.
“The older it gets, the softer it is,” Wright said.
All four breaks happened along a stretch of Route 4. The water district is looking into replacing some of the piping.
“Something the district ought to look into is replacing at least Route 4’s stretch because that’s your main line to those other streets,” Wright said.