MOUNTAIN HOME, Idaho — Residents in a Mountain Home neighborhood say that repeated water outages and poor communication from the city have made for a frustrating summer.
The latest outage on Chestnut Street occurred last Tuesday, leaving some residents without water for hours as they attempted to complete routine daily tasks.
"I went to go make my second cup [of coffee], needed water, and then the water wasn't turned on and I was like, 'no,'" said Lanita Gomez, a homeowner on Chestnut Street.
WATCH: Mountain Home Public Works explains the cause of neighborhood water outages
Gomez said this wasn't the only time this incident has occurred.
"You've seen all the rants online with other streets that are being affected too, and like they didn't get noticed, I guess when their water was shut off," Gomez said.
Mountain Home’s Public Works Department said the outages are connected to a larger infrastructure project to update and replace aging water mains throughout the area.
While officials said they try to notify residents about planned shutoffs in advance, sometimes unexpected issues arise during construction that require immediate water service interruptions.
The city said crews “acted as quickly as we could to address them and restored services as soon as possible.”
However, residents like Gomez said the disruptions have created significant hardships. She said her neighborhood once went more than seven hours without working water.
"They need to fix it, yeah. They need to take accountability and just quit messing up like this because it does affect [us]. We have a lot of older people that live in our neighborhood, too," Gomez said.
The city is also replacing current roadways with new asphalt and fixing broken curbs, gutters, and sidewalks.
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While Gomez agrees the upgrades are necessary, she hopes communication improves beyond online notifications.
"The tags on the door would be phenomenal, like, ‘hey, your water is getting turned off tomorrow from this time to this time,’" Gomez said.
The city said that as projects continue, “they will distribute door hangers to each resident. These door hangers will include information about the anticipated work and a contact phone number for any questions.”
Mountain Home Public Works expects the entire project to be complete by Nov. 28.
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