News

Family says they've been without water for 3 days; PWSA never received complaint

PITTSBURGH — A family living in Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood neighborhood told Channel 11 News Thursday that they had been without running water in their home for the past three days.

Jack Roberts said he and his family had been using his pool water to flush the toilet and bottled water for cooking and consuming.

"Little 5-gallon buckets. You just stick it in the water, take it out and run in and do what you got to do with it,” he said. “This is how we've been going to the bathroom for three days, and I have two kids here plus my daughter and my son-in-law.”

Sandy Roberts said the water went out on Monday as crews were working on a line at Tecumseh and Lytle streets.

Since then, neighbors said they had low water pressure and intermittent outages, but the Roberts, with no working shower or toilet, said they had it the worst.

“It's been like you're camping, but you're not having the fun camping. You ain't getting no fun out of this camp trip,” Jack Roberts said.

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority said they received no reports of someone being without water for three days.

The spokesperson said a private contractor, who is not affiliated with PWSA, hit a line late Wednesday, and no complaints were received until late Wednesday evening.

PWSA crews were onsite Thursday to repair the issue, which residents said required crews to temporarily shut off water for all residents in the vicinity. Service was restored by 5:30 p.m.

“This is a good example of the process working well, and our customers contacting our emergency dispatch,” the spokesperson said.