MASON, Tenn —
Water has been restored to nearly all 1300 residents of Mason after over a week without running water.
Town officials said they first noticed they lost water pressure early Tuesday, Jan. 16, but it wasn't until Wednesday Jan. 17 that residents were notified they'd be without water.
"You don't realize how important having simple stuff like running water is until you ain't got it,” said Mason resident Jesse Keen.
Mayor Eddie Noeman said water was restored on Friday, Jan. 26 to all but about seven homes on Charleston-Mason Rd.
Malcolm Crawford moved to Mason in 1999 and said he has dealt with water pressure issues one too many times.
"This time right here has been the worst time of all. I've also had issues where we didn't have water and they didn't let us know and it burned out my hot water tank,” said Crawford.
Missouri-based Alliance Water Resources started managing the water in Mason back in Oct. 2023. Since then, repairs have been made to the system, but it wasn’t enough to avoid this water crisis following the winter storms.
Since Alliance manages the water and fixes broken water mains and lines, residents had mixed reactions about holding town leaders accountable for the issue.
"I know they can do more. But you've got to love the town and you've got to love the people,” said Crawford.
"I think they're doing what they can, I just think they're understaffed,” said Keen.
Mayor Noeman insists that he has an open-door policy with residents. He said the water issues stemmed from old, neglected lines.
Last year, Mason got a nearly $2 million grant from the state. Along with the grant, Mayor Noeman also said he met with leaders from neighboring cities, like Covington, to discuss possible collaboration to prevent another Mason water crisis in the future.
"We'll try also to tie up our system with the cities around us just in case in the future if something happens to our system, we can cover our citizens for the water and whatever they need,” said Mayor Noeman.
Mayor Noeman said Alliance sent water samples off for testing on Tuesday, and those results could come back in the coming days.