Water restored for English Mountain residents

ENGLISH MOUNTAIN, Tenn. (WVLT) - More than 200 residents and 900 sewer customers were without water Thursday after water wells malfunctioned, according to East Sevier County Utility District Board Commissioner Ed Crosby.

WVLT News confirmed the water was back on by Friday afternoon.

The Tennessee Comptroller’s Office had revoked Witt Utilities’ license to operate, according to Crosby. However, WVLT News spoke with a representative for the Comptroller’s office, who said they did not revoke any license to operate.

The state comptroller’s office released a report on May 17, that raised concerns that ESCUD and Witt were operating without a contract.

Previous Coverage: Witt Utility District manager and brother facing charges after misconduct

“ESCUD and Witt will continue to work diligently on a contract to satisfy the comptroller’s requirements,” Crosby said. “Due to the previous management, we were left with 64k in the bank.”

Crosby said the board asked the state comptrollers office to help them finance the contract since January but has not had a lot of contact with them since then. According to Crosby, ESCUD has been passed over for grants they’ve applied for.

In a later update, Crosby said that ESCUD was working to reinstate Witt Utility’s license and “mobilizing to get water to English Mountain.”

“Yes, there are about 200 customers without water, but we are working to get it restored,” he said.

Offsite resorts in Pigeon Forge were notified Friday morning of the sewer interruptions to rental cabins.

Witt Utility District was their saving grace as they were the only utility company able to maintain water there for years, according to Crosby.

Previous Coverage: Water supply drastically improves for English Mountain homeowners

Crosby said Gov. Bill Lee was made aware of the situation.

WVLT News reached out to local representatives and Gov. Lee for comment but has not heard back.

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