IRWINTON, Ga. — Some Wilkinson County tenants say they've been without water for nearly two months.
Folks say they’ve been feeling stressed and empty, as empty as Raven Marable's pipe. Marabel says she and four other tenants have been struggling to get by without water.
"I was shocked because I didn't know the water was off. We didn't get no notification or anything to let us know that it was going to go off," Marabel said.
She says since the beginning of September, her family walks every day to buy water because they don't have a car.
"My dad buys five-gallon buckets that he'll set inside the wagon, and he will pull it to where he needs to and fill it all up and put it back," Marabel said.
Property owner Himel Uddin told us this all started a year ago when they found a sewage leak. He says the health department inspected the units and found no problem. A few months later the county confirmed the leak was caused by Uddin's complex's septic tank.
"I don't seem to understand why our landlord has been waiting for so long because a permit doesn't take long to get," Marabel said.
Uddin says he received a 30-day notice from the county saying he needed to fix the issue. He says despite his multiple attempts to contact the health department to receive paperwork on the leak, the city turned the tenant's water off in the beginning of September.
Christy Rosser has lived at the property for seven years; he says it's hard to keep up with his everyday needs.
"10 gallons of water a day having to go a mile down the street for a well pumping water," Rosser said.
Uddin says he's still waiting on paperwork to get permission to fix the issue. He was told by the county it could cost nearly $20,000 to replace the septic tank.