Residents frustrated with frequent boil advisories and unreliable water service in Dunbar

DUNBAR, W.Va (WCHS) — Dunbar residents said they have been dealing with water issues on and off since late 2023 and say they just want reliable service.

People across Dunbar said they’ve had six water outages since Feb. 6 and 18 outages since late 2023.

“We don’t get any notice in Dunbar. What is the plan here? It’s one thing to have a damaged water system, but what’s a long-range plan,” Dunbar resident Janet Zerbe said.

She said the water issues have only gotten worse recently.

“The water goes off; we get a text or an email that there’s a boil water advisory,” Zerbe said. “Today, I got a boil water advisory that had been lifted and I didn’t even know it was on. I thought ‘oh well,’ it’s gone on and off so many times I couldn’t keep up with it.”

Dunbar City Council member Sierra Sovine has been speaking out about these issues. She said she feels these repeated water problems are likely related to an underlying issue with the infrastructure.

“A lot of the residents of the apartment complexes are fed up, and they’re ready to move out of Dunbar,” Sovine said. “That becomes a major issue not only for the apartment complex but for the city as well. We just want the problem solved.”

West Virginia American Water told Eyewitness News that the water main, which feeds into the city of Dunbar was damaged during road work, and a broken valve was identified and replaced. They are doing additional flushing in the area to address the concerns of water quality.

Sovine said she wants to see a long-term fix.

“It seems like almost every other street in Dunbar has been torn up with a water main break or water issues,” she said. “If you drive up and down the streets you will find issues everywhere.”

Councilmember Amy Fogg said she would like to see updates made to the system for the whole city.

“We are having water boil advisories and our water shut off and shut back on,” Fogg said. “When they’re turning it back on, they’re not turning it back on at a low speed, it’s like full speed ahead and when us as residents turn our faucets on, it’s like a vacuum and then you know what happens with that, it just blows through the lines.”

She said she would like to see regulators added to the meters to reduce high water pressure, making the lines safer to use in households.

“In Dunbar, we just get these temporary fixes, and we want a permanent fix for our residents,” she said.

West Virginia American Water said when these water main breaks occur, they work as quickly as possible to get the issues resolved.

“Sometimes you almost forget, oh wait a minute, I can’t brush my teeth with this water. Do I even want to take a shower with this water? It’s like drinking out of the Elk River. It’s very frustrating,” Zerbe said.

Dunbar city officials said they will continue to keep in contact with local legislators and West Virginia American Water to shed light on these issues, and work towards a long term solution.