Lake Royale residents concerned after years of water outages persist

Jennifer Hamryszak bought a home in the Lake Royale community only two months ago, and in that time, she said there have been six outages, some persisting for more than a day.
Posted 12/6/2024, 12:58:34 AM Updated 12/6/2024, 2:01:22 PM

THIS HOLIDAY SEASON. AARON

THOMAS, WRAL NEWS LIVE IN CARY.

YEAH, QUITE THE TIME FOR THIS.

AARON. THANK YOU.

>> A HANDFUL OF PEOPLE IN THE

COMMUNITY IN LEWISBURG SAY

THEIR WATER KEEPS GOING OUT THE

WATER AND IT OFTEN LAST DAYS AT

A TIME.

>> THEY SAY THIS HAS BEEN GOING

ON FOR YEARS. A COMPANY CALLED

RED BIRDS SUPPLIES THE WATER.

WE'VE HAD SEVERAL QUESTIONS FOR

THEM, INCLUDING WHAT'S CAUSING

THE OUTAGES. WHY DOES IT KEEP

HAPPENING AND WHAT ARE THEY

DOING TO FIX IT? HERE'S WRAL'S

HEIDI KIRK

MANY OF US TAKE FOR GRANTED

BEING ABLE TO TURN ON THE

FAUCET, COOK A MEAL, TAKE A

SHOWER OR USE WATER IN ANY WAY

THAT WE WANT TO.

>> BUT FOR THE RESIDENTS OF

THE LAKE ROYALE COMMUNITY IN

LEWISBURG, THAT'S NOT ALWAYS

A GIVEN.

>> STOCKING UP ON WATER HAS

BECOME JENNIFER HAMER SACHS

EVERY PICTURE I HAVE RIGHT NOW

IS PRETTY MUCH FULL OF WATER

AND WE HAVE PICTURES LIKE THIS

IN EACH OF THE 3 BATHROOMS AS

WELL. THEY WERE SACKED, IS

PREPARING FOR ANOTHER WATER

OUTAGE AT HER HOME IN THE LAKE

ROYALE COMMUNITY. SHE'S LIVED

HERE ONLY 2 MONTHS, BUT IN THAT

TIME, SHE SAYS THERE'S BEEN

6 OUTAGES FOR ON DAYS OF THIS

WEEK. LIVING HERE FOR 2 MONTHS

IN A HOME. I LOVE AND NOT BEING

ABLE TO HAVE WIDER.

BASIC RUNNING WATER. SIC WAS

DAYS IN 2 MONTHS IS ABSOLUTELY

UNFATHOMABLE. HAMMER SACHS SAYS

SHE HAD NO IDEA THE COMMUNITY

HAD WATER ISSUES WHEN SHE

BOUGHT THE HOME. BUT HER

NEIGHBORS SAY THIS HAS

PERSISTED FOR YEARS. SHE SAYS

THE ONLY INFORMATION SHE HAS IS

FROM REDBIRD THE WATER COMPANY

LETTING HER KNOW EVERY TIME

THERE'S AN OUTAGE IN A BOIL

ORDER THAT FOLLOWS ALL OF THIS.

NOTICE THE REASON FOR THE

OUTAGE SAYS INFRASTRUCTURE

FAILURE, BUT SHE SAYS IT'S

ALWAYS SOMETHING DIFFERENT WHEN

SHE'S REACHED OUT TO THE

COMPANY FOR MORE INFORMATION,

SHE SAYS SHE HASN'T BEEN ABLE

TO GET DETAILS. WE REACHED OUT

TO RED BIRD WITH THESE

QUESTIONS, INCLUDING WHAT

CAUSES THE OUTAGES AND HOW IS

THE COMPANY WORKING TO SOLVE

THE ISSUE? WE DIDN'T HEAR BACK

IF THESE PROBLEMS PERSIST.

WILL YOU STAY IN THIS HOME?

I WILL NOT. I WILL HAVE TO DO

WHATEVER I HAVE TO DO.

>> TO MOVE OUT OF THE COMMUNITY

AND AND FIND A HOME THAT HAS

WATER ON A REGULAR BASIS.

NOW, WE ALSO REACHED OUT TO

FRANKLIN COUNTY MANAGERS TO

UNDERSTAND IF THEY ARE AWARE OF

THIS ISSUE AND WHILE THEY SAID

THEY ARE AWARE THEY DIRECTED

ANY OF OUR QUESTIONS TO REDBIRD

FOR FURTHER ANSWERS. HEIDI

KIRK, WRAL, NEWS AT LAKE WAIAU.

RESIDENTS OF THE LAKE RAIL SAY

THE PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION