Water that, for weeks, was sometimes off, is back on and, knock on wood, will stay on, a lawyer representing Whippoorwill Mobile Home Park’s management firm, Maine Real Estate Management (MREM), said. According to attorney Michael Harman of Bloomer Russell Beaupain in Bangor, pumps at the fully occupied, 31-unit park on Route 27 in Wiscasset repeatedly kicked off due to a shortage of water and had to be manually restarted. 

Whippoorwill retained Maine Rural Water to do sonogram studies, as a leak was suspected, Harman explained in phone interviews and in letters March 2 and 7 to Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation Manufactured Housing Board. Harman said the park’s water comes from three wells that together feed two, 2,000-gallon holding tanks which then distribute the water via internal pumps. If fewer than 600 gallons are in the tanks, a circuit was shutting down the pumps, Harman said. As part of addressing the water issue, the tanks’ pumps now have an automatic restart, he said. 

Harman said the testing found no leaks. So then the wells were tested, and it turned out the deepest one had a leaky O-ring; it has been fixed and the calls about water flow problems stopped, he said.

In a phone interview March 9, Wiscasset Code Enforcement Officer Bruce Mullins said he had offered to help in any way he could if asked. He added, any boil water order at the park would be a state, not town, matter, due to the number of units.

Harman said a boil water order in effect at one point has since been lifted. During the stretch of off and on water, cases of water went to homes throughout the park, he said.

Harman said MREM was looking at adding a new well if needed.

Wiscasset Newspaper learned of the water issue from lot 12’s Tom Kurtz, who emailed the paper, other news outlets and Maine’s Attorney General’s Office March 5. In phone interviews, Kurtz said his water was out when others had gotten theirs back, but that later, his, too, was back on.