In the small town of Saltville, VA, I, like many others, was left without water for TEN DAYS from Sunday, November 17, 2024 - Wednesday, November 27, 2024. Despite being connected to various sources of information from Nixle, the town's website, Facebook, and direct calls to the town hall, transparency was absent. There was a striking lack of adequate information and, what was shared, often fell short of complete accuracy. As a result, residents of our town suffered due to long-term mismanagement of resources, a failure to properly maintain equipment, and poor communication regarding our essential water services.

Our town's water service has been woefully inconsistent, with frequent interruptions that leave countless households without this vital necessity on a regular basis. When water is present, there are often notices to boil water due to issues with the water supply and distribution system. It's not just about the convenience of running water—it directly impacts our hygiene, nutrition, finances, and overall health.

Additionally, the fact that the town did not notify anyone in the distribution area of any problem until 10:00 am the morning following the outage and pump failure begs the question of how reliable are our boil notices if we are receiving notification more than 12 hours after an event has happened to negatively impact the water supply.

Thus, we request Saltville, VA make immediate, necessary changes to secure the continued access to clean and safe water in the community or cede control of water management to a Water Authority, similar to Washington County. By doing so, we believe there will be improved reliability and uptime, mitigating the myriad issues we currently face. It's not a matter of preference, but of public health and human rights. Right to water and sanitation was recognized as a human right by the UN General Assembly in 2010. 

We are not asking for much—just accountability, transparency, and a reliable water supply. We call on the local government officials to listen to the voices of the distressed residents of Saltville, VA and let a Water Authority manage our water. Please sign this petition and help us secure a better future for our community.