After repeated water problems and outages dating back to February, the Maine Center for Disease Control is calling for the out-of-state owners of a Wiscasset mobile home park to drill a new well that can keep up with use.

Whippoorwill Hill Mobile Home Park residents have reported unscheduled water shut-offs and poor water quality over the past seven months, saying they haven’t been able to shower, wash their clothes or flush their toilets on multiple occasions. The property’s well was installed in 2020 but has run dry several times.

Maine CDC spokesperson Lindsay Hammes said Whippoorwill is contracting to get two potable water deliveries each day to keep the well’s pressure up and supply adequate water, until problems are solved. Hammes said a drilling contractor has been contacted and briefed on the urgency of the situation. She said they have also reached out to the park owner to make sure the owner commits to drilling a new well by Aug. 25.

Maine CDC Drinking Water Program Manager Amy LaChance said inspectors have contacted Bowie Brothers Well Drilling in Farmingdale to complete the new well but said there is no guarantee a new well will provide an adequate water supply. She said it will take time and require testing once installed but hopes this will be a permanent solution.

Renters said their only point of contact has been Maine Real Estate Management in Bangor. The management company sent out a letter to residents on Aug. 8.

“Maine Real Estate Management has been working daily to coordinate with experts to resolve the problem and anticipate a new well being installed very soon. In the meantime, we have arranged for regular deliveries of water to fill the holding tanks, as well as supplemental drinking water deliveries,” the company wrote.

Attempts to reach Maine Real Estate Management by phone or email were unsuccessful Monday afternoon.

One resident who asked to remain anonymous for fear of eviction said the experience has been “a pain.” Forced to work two jobs to make up for the $2oo rent increase over the past couple of years, she said the lack of water has only added to her stress.

“There were days I would drive home from work and find myself hoping I’d have running water to wash my dishes,” she said.

As the trucks arrive each day to fill the holding tanks, she said conditions have “slightly” improved, but noted the water coming from the well is now brown and spitting out dirt and rocks into her washing machine. She said the 32-packs of 16-ounce drinking water containers being dropped off for residents aren’t enough to flush toilets, “let alone wash up with.”

Longtime resident Tom Kurtz said renters have recently received notices to boil their water because the tap water is now unsafe to drink. He said if the well has run dry, then the water being added to the holding tanks is stirring up the sludge at the base of the well and contaminating the water.

Kurtz said his neighbors decided to move after their children contracted ear infections, which they feared were from bathing in the water.

Allen Butler has lived in the park since 1998 and said he is taking things day by day.

“But if I win the lottery, I’m out of here,” he added.

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