Jefferson County neighbors without water for five days in well dispute

HOUSE SPRINGS, Mo. (First Alert 4) — Five homes in a Jefferson County neighborhood have been without water for five days after the person in charge of their shared well turned off the supply.

Residents on Spring Glen Drive in House Springs say the neighbor who controls their water well has shut it off repeatedly over the last two months. The homeowners say they are current on their $10 monthly water bills, but claim the well controller is demanding thousands of dollars in back payments.

“It’s been terrible,” said Bev Moore, one of the affected residents. “It’s terrible, it’s disgusting, it’s unsanitary.”

Jessica Icobelli, another resident without water, said the situation has left the neighborhood in crisis.

“Even prisoners get water,” Icobelli said. “He’s terrorizing the neighborhood.”

The residents say they cannot get clear answers about why the water remains off or what it would take to restore service. Moore and Icobelli say the neighbor controlling the well recently experienced a mental health crisis.

“He pulled a gun on us, then he pulled a gun and put it to his head,” Icobelli said. “Our other neighbor had to come take the gun away from him.”

Darren Campbell, who controls the well, said neighbors have not paid electric bills or contributed to a well fund for five years.

“I’m not turning the water off for my neighbors,” Campbell said. “The neighbors haven’t paid anything for the electric bill or anything for the well fund for five years.”

Campbell hung up before he could be asked what it will take to get the water turned back on.

Icobelli disputed Campbell’s claims about unpaid bills.

“He told me I need to pay for the last five years of water and I’ve only lived here a year and a half,” she said.

With temperatures in the teens and single digits forecasted for later this week, residents worry about frozen pipes and property damage. Moore filled her bathtub before the latest water shutoff to have water for flushing toilets, but the neighborhood has no water for cooking or bathing.

“I think our pipes are going to freeze, I think our houses are going to be ruined,” Icobelli said. “Hundreds of thousands of dollars damage.”

Moore said the situation could become catastrophic.

“We’re going to have a disaster, we’re all going to have a disaster,” she said.

Because the water source is a private well, no local or state agencies have the authority to intervene in the dispute. Residents say their only option is to file a lawsuit.

“We’ve been to the courthouse, they said we have to get an attorney to file a case,” Moore said. “But we can’t get an attorney because we don’t have the money.”

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