Update: As of 2 p.m. Tuesday, water has been restored for residents at Alcovy Mobile Home Park. Maintenance manager Gary Drake said the pump has been repaired and residents can now use their water. Drake said he advised everyone in the community to boil their water for the next couple of days to ensure its clean and not contaminated. 

 Residents at the mobile home park complained to their landlord about being without running water for four days after a water pump stopped working on Friday.

Several tenants at the mobile home park, located off of Ga. Highway 36, said they asked management and several other organizations for help to get their water turned back on, but they'd had no luck as of Monday morning.

Alcovy Mobile Home Park Owner Michael Au said a late night storm on Friday caused problems to the property's well system.

"The power went out. The power was restored, but for some reason, the lightening must have put out the well pump," he said.

Au said he could not reach anyone by phone on Friday night that could help repair the problem. He said to offer some relief his maintenance manager, Gary Drake, handed out cases of water to residents every day since Saturday.

"We got someone who's going to come out today and get someone to replace the pump that can go to the well," Au said during a phone interview on Monday morning. "The resources are very limited on the weekend. The best we could do was give out cases of water to everyone."

Drake said he also called several well companies throughout the weekend. He said Holder Well & Pump Services, located in Social Circle, would make the necessary repairs on Monday. Drake said he hoped water would be restored for residents Monday night or some time on Tuesday. Drake said the company arrived at the mobile home park on Monday around 9:30p.m. to start working on the well system.

Tina Black, a truck driver, said she came home on Friday night from work and she noticed water rushing from pipes behind one of the homes in the community. She said she and other residents have called the police, the Red Cross and the county looking for ways to help resolve the issue.

"I think that every day we have been without water, we should get something deducted off our rent," Black said. " This month alone we have been without water at least four times."

Black's neighbor, Cheryl Watson, also complained about the water problem.

" All the pipes need to be repaired," Watson said. "We can't blame Gary because he's doing the best that he can."

The News contacted Code Enforcement Coordinator Pamela Leasure Maxwell about the water problems at the mobile home park.

"I visited the Alcovy Mobile Home Park and was told by the manager that the groundwater well that services the property is being repaired. Since repairs are under way, the county has not looked into whether any cone enforcement action is appropriate," she said in an email.

County Chairman Kathy Morgan said she contacted the Newton County Water and Sewerage Authority and the Environmental Health Department, but the government entities were limited in what they could do because both the land and well are private property.

"This was a landlord, tenant issue," Morgan said. "We want people to know that this was nothing we just dismissed offhand, but there wasn't much we could do about it."

Morgan said the issue has come up before, but the county doesn't really have ordinances that are applicable and said it's more of a state health issue. The water and sewerage authority was ready to do an emergency tap if necessary, Morgan said, but that route would likely be much more costly for the tenant, who would have to pay tap fees and monthly water rates.

Drake said he has been working as quickly as possible to find ways to get the water back on and running for everyone. He had this message to residents on behalf of his company: "We do apologize, we really do."