Water Pressure Lost Again At Mashpee's Lakeside Estates

By: Brian Kehrl
Published: 12/31/09

Residents of Lakeside Estates recently had their water pressure restored after reporting low pressure for more than a week, stretching from before the heavy snowstorm two weekends ago, through Christmas, until this past Sunday, according to the Mashpee Board of Health.

The board of health office received six complaints about low pressure at the trailer park on December 18, 21, and 23, according to a violation notice sent by the board on December 23 to park owner William R. Haney Sr. and the park property manager.

Health Agent Glen E. Harrington and Assistant Agent Veronica A. Warden inspected the park on two occasions and found several violations, including that water pressure at one unit was down to 10 pounds per square inch, well below the state sanitary code minimum of 20 pounds of pressure and the town regulation of 30, according to a copy of the letter sent to Mr. Haney.

The park owner was also cited for failing to have a property manager on site during weekday business hours, as is required by the board of health’s regulations.

The board ordered Mr. Haney to fix the problem within 24 hours of receiving the letter, which was sent on December 23.

Ms. Warden said the health board has not received the certified mail notice indicating what day the letter was delivered, so she was not sure whether the pressure was restored in time. “So we are kind of caught in limbo at the moment,” she said.

The incident is the first time the board of health’s new mobile home park regulations have been brought to bear on issues at Lakeside Estates. The board adopted the measures this fall in an effort to increase oversight of the park, where residents have been complaining for several years about poor water service.

Mr. Haney’s son, Matthew Haney, returned a message left at the park’s answering service on Tuesday afternoon and flatly denied that there was a break in the park’s water main. He also said he was not aware of the board of health sending the letter.

Asked what happened to the park’s water service if there was not a break in the main, Matthew Haney said, “Gotta go, bye,” and hung up the phone.

Joyce H. Fuller, a Lakeside resident, said in an interview this week that she did not hear of any units that were completely without water, but one unit that was tested by a resident was down to about four pounds per square inch. On the weekend the problem was fixed, Ms. Fuller said park residents had to bring water to the toilet in buckets in order to force them to flush. “Which is not the way it’s supposed to be, but that’s what happened,” she said.

Ms. Fuller said the Haneys came to the park a day or two after the low pressure was first reported, with some sort of a machine used to search for pipe breaks. At first they told the residents that it must have been a trailer owner who failed to put heat tape on their external water pipes and suggested that residents clean out their shower heads, she said.

“But we said, ‘No, it can’t be that. It must be a main,’ because it was everybody in the park, not just one or two streets,” she said.

She said the Haneys were using the detection machine around the office on the 19th and then work was done that appeared to be fixing a leak behind the office on the 27th. “I don’t know why they didn’t find it. And if they found it, I don’t know why they didn’t fix it,” she said.

“When we called, it was a ‘We’re working on it’ kind of attitude.”

Ms. Fuller said the residents at the park have been in touch with the state Attorney General’s office and the state Department of Environmental Protection, leaving some of them hopeful that the water issues at the park will finally be improved.

“We’ll just have to see. There is going to be another break. It is going to happen again,” she said.