Well runs dry, leaving Lakeview Estates residents in Durand with no water

SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, Mich. (WJRT) – Residents living in a Shiawassee County mobile home park say they’ve had no running water for the last several days.

Management says the well serving Lakeview Estates in Durand ran dry and they blame residents for letting their faucets trickle to avoid freezing pipes. Two residents say the problem is not only inconvenient – but also a health concern.

”We residents want to know what we can do. They can give us bottled water for free, they can say be patient, but it’s unsanitary,” said a Lakeview Estates resident who wished to remain anonymous.

Many other residents at Lakeview Estates mobile home park in Durand are wondering why there’s little to no water coming out of their faucets the last three days.

“I couldn’t flush my toilets, which is very unsanitary,” a resident said. “It first started out as a trickle and then all of a sudden, I didn’t have any water.”

Residents say this isn’t the first time. The park has a history of water problems regardless of the time of year.

Park management says the water issues are caused by a supply shortage in the well system.

“After putting the pressure at 25%, it didn’t go down last night, so that leads us to believe it wasn’t a big water leak. It leads us to believe residents letting their lines run, which caused this issue,” said Matt Ricciardella, who manages the park maintenance staff.

He put heat tape on the homes that needed it, but that not all residents informed the park they didn’t have the tape. Ricciardella said this caused most people living there to trickle their water, which drained their supply.

Water supply issues have been an ongoing problem at the park:

• January 2019 — the park’s well system only operated at 50% power.
• November 2020 — a power outage caused the well to stop working.
• February 2021 — drop in supply and pressure.

All of these problems led to a boil water advisory, which remains in effect for Lakeview Estates until further notice.

“I couldn’t disagree with that. The prior owner owned it for 30 to 40 years and that probably was an ongoing theme, but it’s our goal to resolve that,” Ricciardella said.

The park’s owner is planning to install a new well system this spring in hopes of eliminating the recurring supply problems.

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