Yellow water flows in a rural Maryland town. Angry residents demand change beyond the tap

The screen door squeaked lightly as Jared Schablien, hair wet from a shower, walked into the humid afternoon air carrying a water bottle he just filled from his kitchen sink.

It was pale yellow.

And according to Schablien, that’s a sign of improvement.

“It just recently started to get better, within the last week or two,” the 20-year-old Pittsville local said on the last day of May. “And even then, there's still sometimes if you turn on the hot water, and it'll still be yellow.”

Pittsville, about 11 miles outside Salisbury, Maryland, has been coated in headlines since the latest “water crisis,” as residents have deemed it, struck in early April.

Many residents complained of struggling for understanding as their water was discolored for months, receiving conflicting stories from officials as seemingly nothing changed, and an apparent lack of transparency and communication from the town as this unfolded.

As the tumultuous situation continues, a different stain seems to have set in public opinion — a cry for the town’s government to modernize communication.

Governing a population just under 1,500 people, it would seem such changes would need to push through a mixture of tradition and habit, not unlike in other small towns in the state. 

“We understand parts break, things happen, but just how many times the story changed, how slow the response was, how slow it was to get clean water out to people,” Schablien said, lightly tapping the table in front of him. “We're in the 21st century.”

Another resident, Ivory Smith, echoed Schablien, saying the water “went sort of haywire” for a while, leaving residents looking for better communication from the town.

It's been a rough ride since then, with some reports of dark sediment in the water as recently as Monday, June 10. Town Manager Joe Mangini said in a town hall meeting Wednesday night that he "wouldn't be surprised" if the town had to look into "putting emergency funding into a new plant" — a potentially $2 million endeavor. 

Mangini also said over $30,000 of the town's money has already gone into plant this year. 

Earlier in June, Mangini described how the water issues had “mushroomed” unlike what he had seen in 50 years in government.

“It's almost been unbelievable,” Mangini said June 3. “There's been one mechanical breakdown after another. And as soon as we had the breakdowns, we go ahead and got the equipment and repaired it, and then another one breaks down.

"All it takes is for one thing to be out of whack and it kind of throws the whole system off.”

The “system” is reportedly pushing 30 years old, with no large-scale renovations yet on the horizon. But according to Mangini, one key culprit was less complex.

“Chemicals that we were sold back, I guess it was October or so, were defective,” Mangini said. “And that's what was used to treat the iron removal. So we went ahead and got that corrected, and we had a couple more breakdowns. But we're still working on it.”

Jay Apperson, deputy director of the Maryland Department of the Environment's Office of Communications, said it's very unusual for an iron problem to persist in a municipal  water system — thus leaving residents with discolored and metallic-tasting water.  

"Our engineering division has been on site multiple times to provide support ... as it has made operational and equipment changes to improve water quality," Apperson wrote in an email June 6. "MDE remains actively involved in the situation. In the past few days, water quality sampling at the drinking water plant has shown significant improvements to the point that results have met the standard for iron."

Continued complaints also slowly caught the eyes of state legislators, and Wednesday, State Sen. Mary Beth Carozza, R-38th-Worcester, released a statement thanking those who expressed concerns and affirming an impending visit from MDE on Thursday, June 12. 

After bringing in state expertise like MDE as well as Maryland’s Rural Water Association to monitor the situation, one remaining matter is more in-house — and online.

"Once the water crisis is dealt with, we can start attacking the bigger issue," Schablien said, "the lack of transparency, the need to modernize ... to move on from jumping from one crisis to the next." 

As Hebron makes digital move, can Pittsville?

Schablien is pretty politically active for a 20-year-old on the Shore.

Having started a political organization back in 2016, the Lower Shore Progressive Caucus, the current University of Maryland student had a bit of an idea what local government could look like — and he wasn’t seeing it at home.

Minutes from town council meetings cannot be found on Pittsville’s website, and there is only one email to contact town officials, as well as one office number.

The site does have separate entries for the town’s attorney and phone numbers for the clerk, police, water treatment lead operator and wastewater plant superintendent.

However, no entries exist for the town council members.

Diagnosing Pittsville’s recent water issue as a symptom of a much larger problem in lacking transparency and efficient communication, Schablien decided to take steps by starting a petition to start live streaming local meetings. 

He was shocked by the positive reaction — over 30 signatures in two days.

“I ended up starting the petition to live stream the meetings because it just blew my mind that we weren't doing that,” he said. “And, if we look, the Facebook page hasn’t been used since 2012. There's a big push that we need to modernize. We need to be transparent, and we need to make sure that we're not just jumping from one crisis to the next."

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Schablien offered Salisbury as a point of contrast, saying that it didn’t always used to look like it does today. And Mayor Jake Day agrees.

Running for City Council back in 2013, Day saw hardly any of the modernization he sees in his local government today, and the third pillar of that first campaign was actually to increase just that.

“We had fallen into the trap that 90% of governments do … (setting) up an antagonistic dynamic, rather than we reflect the desires of the community,” the mayor said. “Social media is a big part of it too.”

Though he said he isn’t an expert of Pittsville’s situation, Day outlined various changes made to his government’s social reach — from “eight or nine” different Facebook pages, to Twitter accounts, live streaming and a website redesigned in 2016.

But Pittsville holds about 5% the population Salisbury does, and Schablien looks for a fraction of that breadth. With no minutes from council meetings to be found on the website, he thinks live streaming local meetings would be a good place to start.

“Number two (is) definitely updating the Facebook and the website. The Pittsville town website looks like it was made in the early '90s …” Schablien said. “Updating social media so, 'Hey, there's a local event' or 'Hey, a local business is doing this promotion.' Not only could it inform the town, but it could also bring more folks into our local community, help our local business.”

Julie Bellamy believes a town's presence should be reflected online.

About 17 miles to the west, Town Manager Bellamy is seeing many new digital strides taken in Hebron — a town slightly smaller than Pittsville. 

With a background in economic development, one of her most recent moves has been posting the town's water quality report on its website for the first time, bolstering a passing grade to residents. 

"When we first saw that, it was, 'Well we need to post that on the website,' " the manager of nearly a month said. “I'm always a proponent for communication. The buzz word now is transparency, but you need to communicate to the town out.”

Bellamy said that last year the town saw through a new website as well as a Facebook page, both of which seem to be consistently active, and she's looking forward to where she can further improve — especially in growth and support of local business.  

"With the current minutes from our commissioners meeting and also, you know, when the new election comes up — all of that hadn't been updated," she said. "(It's) a relationship (with) the citizens and the town government, versus you know, when there's a problem."

Mangini, who serves as a "circuit rider town manager" — part of a state program that helps hire professional staff to multiple towns assisting with specific municipal functions and activities — said he hasn't seen a push for modernization like this in his other Wicomico County towns — Sharptown and Willards. 

"No, no, this was new this year. And I think one of the big reasons here is because this town is right now on the cusp of some major things happening. There are people who are taking a look at Pittsville as a place to maybe come set up shop or maybe even come live."

For now though, much of Pittsville’s online presence has been complaints toward the government, discolored water and various other topics — with Pittsville Neighbors being one of three main, unofficial Facebook groups geared toward those who live here.

Having lived in the town for about three years, Ivory Smith understood the water problems would take awhile to clear up. But the 51-year-old resident, who says he attends meetings regularly, did expect to understand the problem.

"I don't want to upset people," Smith said finding his words, "But sometimes you gotta speak the truth. You know? If you don't tell them what's up, they won't know what's up."

Smith said he believes the water situation would have gone over much more smoothly with open communication.

“You've got to give a little to get a little. Right now, we're giving it to them. I'll tell you that,” Smith said laughing through the phone. “They've got to be willing to be more transparent with us, more open and upfront with us.”

That change might be coming.

"Giving hope" to Pittsville

Schablien has lived in Pittsville his entire life — in the same house on Pitts Avenue.

He says he’s been told ever since he can remember that he needs to leave.

“I don’t buy it,” he said. “I think we definitely need to change that narrative by giving hope, by investing in local communities ... bringing jobs back to this area and encouraging our young people to stay. It starts at the bottom, and you build your way up.”

Both Mangini and Schblien noted positive side-effects stemming from the water problems, as they saw what felt like the entire community coming together and engaging with issues.

“I think at the end of the day we'll make everyone's day easier,” Schblien continued. “Nothing about (these ideas) is radical or new.”

Council President George Whited said the government of Pittsville will be “run like a business,” and there won’t be “favors” or shortcuts.

“It should have been for years, but it wasn’t. It was run like a good ol’ boy plan,” the 72-year-old said simply. “And that won’t cut it.”

The council has yet to approve officially, according to Mangini, but its newest member, Bethany Miller, has proposed the creation of a Communications Committee.

In the group’s infancy, attitudes seem optimistic.

“I have confidence. We have no reason not to,” Schablien said. “Definitely want to make sure this is not just a political stunt, that this is an actual committee that can have actual recommendations.”

In Wednesday's town hall meeting, Miller said the committee has already met for the first time, and she is excited for the group to begin looking at better methods of communication. 

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Mangini, who can't stand social media in his personal life, said hopes its members from the council and the community come in with open minds — addressing talks of live streaming, social media or perhaps a newsletter — as residents continue to critique the government’s transparency and many homes still seek clear water. 

“I, you know, that's my job. And I respond to that,” Mangini said. “So I’ve got to take everything personally, but I feel very confident that we're moving in the right direction.”

Further down the line, Schablien said Pittsville should look to grow, and the modernization of government operations would only stand to boost the economy later — a growth goal seemingly shared by many small towns on the Eastern Shore. 

“Trying to build an actual future that's better than what we had growing up, I think is the long-term goal,” he said. “I hope that's what the council's goal is.”