News 19 was asked by viewers to look into why the water was cut off for dozens of families in one Columbia neighborhood. Nearly 16 families, living without water for almost two weeks.
After two days of asking questions we were told the water has been turned back on, but we still have some questions. Our on your side team took a look at why the tenants had this issue in the first place.
"That money don't belong to her, this isn't her money," tenant Ray Cooper said. "that's our money."
Cooper has lived off of Bluebird Lane for 18 years and has never dealt with a problem like this. He and his neighbors said their water was shut off around Christmas.
"We just pay the rent and she took care of the water, but she said the water bill was $1,000, we can't pay that," Cooper said.
Cooper said he always pays his rent on time and showed News 19 his receipts. He also said having to go without an essential need was unfair. The property is owned by Porter Lee Rentals, but the landlord has been unreachable.
"When you try to call her nobody be there to answer it," Cooper said.
According to the South Carolina Code of Laws under the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act - "A landlord shall make available running water and reasonable amounts of hot water at all times."
And where the landlord fell short with the tenants water supply, the community showed up to deliver bottled water for the time being. Some even took the the issue to social media to raise awareness.
"Right now we are just depending on family members they doing the best they can to help us," resident Chrystal Locke said. "Right now we really don't know what were going to do."
The water was turned on around 3:00 Friday afternoon. At this point News 19 still doesn't know who paid the water bill. We reached out to Columbia Water, which provides water to the residents of the mobile home park off of Bluebird Lane before the water was cut back on.
Columbia Water said that area is through a single meter and the account it maintained by the landlord and just like all of their customers, the landlord has financial responsibility for the account and maintaining water service for the tenants.
Columbia Water's statement stated, "unfortunately, the landlord has been delinquent in paying their bills. Columbia Water has extended multiple payment arrangement options to prevent an interruption of service dating back to April 2018. The customer has failed to meet their obligation resulting in the recent service disconnection. Payment arrangement options are still available to the customer so that service can be restored. The account holder must contact our customer care center."
News 19 will continue to follow this story and continue to ask questions.