The Spruce Pine Town Council faced an unusually packed house at its regular meeting last week, as a number of residents of Ollis Road and Sullins Branch area came to complain that their water has been out for weeks, beginning before Christmas.
Resident Martin Frady said that there have been problems with local water, off and on, since Hurricane Helene (downgraded to a tropical storm after slowing down over land) struck in September 2024.
“Since the hurricane came through, we lose water quite frequently,” Frady said.
On Monday, Ollis Road resident Frederick Howe said that even a week after he and his neighbors complained to the council, he still didn’t have water. Howe noted that the drop in pressure came about around the same time that Mountain View Correctional Institution lost water service, but in his case, the water hasn’t come back online.
“It was about a month ago, and all of a sudden, overnight, (the pressure) just dropped,” Howe said.
Howe said that while town employees have told him that there is enough water pressure at the meter that the water should reach his house, so far, the water just doesn’t flow.
“I had a contractor come out here and look at it,” Howe said. “He said, ‘50 pounds (of pressure) is just not enough to get it up your hill.’”
At the meeting, Frady said that town employees had shown him that the meter was reading 38 pounds of pressure. Frady said that he has had plumbers out to look at his water system and they found no problems at his end.
Kayla Sullins of Ollis Road said that when her water does work, the pressure is so low that it’s almost impossible to use. At one point, she said, it took 45 minutes to run a bath.
Mayor Beth Holmes said that town employees have been keeping the council informed about the problem and the things they have tried to fix it.
“We are aware of the issue on Ollis Road, and that is something that needs to continue being taken up with the (town) manager and public works staff,” Holmes said. “We really appreciate you coming; it’s not fallen on deaf ears.”
In accordance with town policy (and the policy of many other towns and counties), the council members did not answer citizens’ questions directly during the public comment period.
Towards the end of the meeting, Town Manager Daniel Stines noted that the Public Works staff has been putting considerable effort into solving the problem, and said that Public Works tends to be overworked in general, frequently responding to water and sewer leaks and outages in the middle of the night.
Holmes also praised the Public Works staff for its dedication since the hurricane.