Residents reach sixth day without water in parts of West Tennessee

January 22, 2024

WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News Staff,

MCNAIRY COUNTY, Tenn. — Residents in some parts of West Tennessee are still without water after last week’s winter storms.

Faucet

WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News Reporter Garrett Evans spoke with a resident who shared insight on how difficult it is to live without a water supply and how they’ve been dealing with the circumstances.

“Now we’re at day six and, you know, you open up those faucets and nothing comes out. Bone dry,” said Daniel Deflippo, a Chester County resident whose home is supplied water by the utility company in Selmer.

Deflippo, along with his neighbors and many others, have been without water since Wednesday of last week. Six consecutive days without water.

“Probably about seven or eight days ago, we started getting very low water pressure. The day before it was completely cut off. It was basically impossible. Only one of us got a shower that day. It was completely cut off,” Defilippo said.

Defilippo says the first two days of the winter storm, he couldn’t leave his property because of the hazardous road conditions.

So he and his family had to use what the weather had provided plenty of.

“We used a lot of snow actually. We have an ice maker at the house. We thawed out the container that keeps the ice, used that, went out, got some snow, let it melt, used that and that’s about all we could do,” Defilippo said.

Defilippo and his family have used a relative’s house for showers and laundry and they’ve used bottled water and other methods for things around the house.

“You have to use a bottle to wash your hands. We’ve been using paper plates, plastic cups, plastic ware to eat and not really making things that are extensive, you know, that require a lot of dishwashing. A lot of sandwiches and things like that,” Defilippo said.

However, using bottled water has come with its own set of issues and a steep price tag.

“Well, it’s not cheap. You know, as I said, 23 bottles of water to flush the toilet. That’s about a 24-pack and, you know, four or five dollars a pop. It’s not cheap. That kind of adds up,” Defilippo said.

Defilippo says that while he’s younger and able to make the constant water trips, he feels bad for his neighbors who are elderly and may not be able to do the same.

As for the utility company, Defilippo says he wants more communication from them.

“I did send a message via Facebook Messenger. It was seen but it was not responded to. Basically, it was asking what is being done so this doesn’t happen again,” Defilippo said.

We reached out to the Selmer Utility Division and were told the lack of water was due to the amount used during the winter storm.

We were told the supply of water simply did not meet the demand.

Defilippo had advice for anyone else who does not have water.

He says to make sure to turn off your water heater because it could get damaged by the lack of water.

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