As winter weather swept through Columbia County last week, some residents of the McCuddy Landing Marina near Scabose reported issues accessing water and sewer during the weather.
Nancy Ward is a long-time resident of McCuddy's Landing, and she said she started having issues with water pressure on Friday, January 12.
“The water went out on Friday. “For me, I had no water in the kitchen, and I had a stream in the bathroom about the size of a straw,” Ward said. “Every house was different, so I can’t tell you what everyone went through, other than “The fact that no one had enough water to take the pressure to do things like shower.”
Ward said “most” residents had enough to be able to place a pot under the stream of water to boil it and make it drinkable. The problems began on Jan. 12, and the water was not restored by management until Jan. 19, although the marina remained at a boil until Jan. 23, Ward said.
Ward has been a resident of McCuddy's Landing for 18 years, and said that in the 18 years she has been at the marina, she has seen similar outages in water service in 12 of those years. One problem Ward has is that she feels the administration “doesn't have the appetite for permanent reform.”
Ward also said she feels the administration did not prioritize the needs of residents during these events. When Ward contacted McCuddy's ownership, they told her the roads were too dangerous to send crews to make repairs. Ward said the issue was a “habitability issue” related to the McCody family’s obligation as property owners to ensure residents had access to safe drinking water. Ward also said the sewage water began to subside on Wednesday.
Myron Clinton, who has lived in McCuddy's Landing since 2014, said when the weather changed, they had “little water” and then the sewer lines froze. Clinton said he understood weather presented complications, but he would have liked more precautionary communications from the administration.
“It appears that tenants have had to continue to communicate with their landlords to be able to get that information to find out what is going on,” Clinton said. “The response to everything seemed kind of delayed and unresponsive, and it was just kind of letting people down.”
Another longtime resident, who preferred to remain anonymous due to fears of possible retaliation, said he noticed that management “doesn't really care” about maintaining the facilities and that marina owners are taking advantage of the fact that residents can't get up and park. Leave.
“The problem I have with McCuddy's and most marinas is that they know we're on houseboats and we can't unhook and leave because we're disappointed in their service,” one resident said. “So they can do as much or as little as they really want. And most of the time, it's very little.”
The citizen said issues with the sewer line have continued year after year and that ownership has not taken the necessary steps to upgrade facilities due to the cost. One of the big frustrations experienced by resident and ward is the lack of communication from management.
“There was no communication,” one resident said. “There is no communication at all before the weather comes or any other time. They actually don't communicate with the tenants at all about what they're doing or what their plans are.
In an attempt to spur change, Ward filed a notice requesting arbitration through a chapter of the Oregon Tenants Association, which oversees mobile home parks and marinas. Ward hopes to address her concerns about McCuddy's Landing through mediation.
Mark Anderson is the harbormaster at McCuddy's Landing, and he said the marina is taking steps to try to stop water breaks before they happen. Normal protocol, according to Anderson, is to post signs and notices to all principals that they should run a little water from their faucets to avoid freezing.
With temperatures this low for an extended period of time, some water lines freezing was inevitable, Anderson said. Anderson said crews came to try to address the problem when they heard residents were without water, but finding water breaks was difficult because of frozen lines.
“If a line is frozen, it doesn't flow until it thaws, so we had to wait for the ice to thaw to figure out where the water was cut off,” Anderson said.
As for other preventative measures besides tenants running piped water before inclement weather, Anderson said there aren't many other measures they're taking.
“I've been a marina manager for almost 16 years, and this is an ongoing issue with all the marina properties; they're exposed to the elements, and people who live here and have lived here for a while have to know that their water is going to be compromised by the temperatures,” Anderson said. “.
Anderson said the lack of response is a result of the limited number of employees McCuddy's Marinas has at its disposal. McCuddy's Marina, the company that owns McCuddy's Landing, has seven properties, and Anderson said there aren't enough maintenance staff “to handle all of these emergencies at once.”
To help address the staffing issue, Anderson said he brought in outside help with the owners' approval to fix water loss and wastewater backup issues at the property.
Mark McCuddy is one of the sons of Marina McCuddy's owner, Mike McCuddy, and he runs the business. McCuddy detailed what led to the loss of water at McCuddy's Landing.
“When everyone was running water, it caused the well to dry up, and at that point, the water pressure dropped, and the water lines froze,” McCurdy said.
With everyone running their water to avoid freezing, no well is “engineered to provide that type of water in those conditions,” McCuddy said. Makudi said the delay in service was the result of not wanting to put their crews on the road due to the dangerous conditions.
“I don't send my people out on the roads when it's dangerous, and I know it's not a life-threatening situation. I knew these people were going to be OK. They had ample opportunity to supply bottled water or whatever you have,” McCudy said. “They can also use river water to flush their toilets. “I didn’t want to put my people in danger because some people were uncomfortable.”
When asked about residents' concerns about a lack of communication from management, McCuddy said they are “communicating well.” He said he expects people who live in the marina to be “as knowledgeable about the weather and forecasts” as anyone else.
“We put out the snow shovels, we put out the snowmelt, we drain the lines when appropriate; we do a lot of things to prepare for bad weather, but we can't hold everyone's hands during a storm,” McCudy said.