With the area getting hit hard by storms on Sunday, those living in one neighborhood in Boxford, Massachusetts, suddenly found themselves without water.
"Panic ensued," said Stephen Guilmette, a resident of the Andrews Farm community. "OK, you are like, 'Here we go, now what do we do?'"
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Residents immediately filled buckets with rain water to flush toilets.
In a lot of ways, those who live in Andrews Farm have expected this — not from a storm, but from a decades-long feud with the water company.
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The majority of Boxford homes have private water sources, but the 50+ homes in Andrews Farm rely on the Andrews Farm Water Company, created with the sole purpose of providing water to these homes.
"It is an incredibly, day-to-day, anxiety-filling experience, something as basic as drinking water, every family, wants to take take for granted, we can't here," Guilmette said.
Residents here say they were notified their water could be turned off by July 25, adding that the owner of Andrews Farm Water Company said he didn't have the resources to keep the company afloat.
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At last week's Boxford Select Board meeting, members voted to send Andrews Farm Water Company an order demanding they continue providing water without interruption.
A man who answered a phone number for the water company listed with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities said we had the wrong number.
"We are working diligently with Boxford Town Counsel and the MassDEP in order to find a permanent solution for water provision in the Andrews Farm Neighborhood," a Virginia-based lawyer for the water company said in a statement texted to NBC10 Boston. "We have no further comment at this time."
"The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) is aware of the situation with the Andrews Farm Water Company, and we are working with the system operator, the residents and the Town of Boxford to determine next steps to address the issues there," MassDEP spokesman Ed Coletta said in a statement Tuesday.
For those who live in Andrews Farm, it's all doing little to ease worries about what happens the next time they go to turn on their water or take a shower.
"We are actually, in some ways, glad this is happening, because it brings light onto the situation," said Guilmette. "It needs to be addressed, it is too long."
