While his water was shut off in his home on Monday, Nov. 17, Keith Weisenstein spent his afternoon looking for a new place to live.

“I was just on the phone with a Realtor, that’s how bad it’s gotten here,” he said.

Weisenstein is a resident of Rolling Valley Estates in Connoquenessing Township, a mobile home park owned by Stackhouse Management, where he said he’s had muddy, sediment-contaminated water for months, in part leading him to decide he has no choice but to find a new residence. To combat this, he said he’s started buying and regularly replacing water system filters.

“Even with the filters, I won’t drink it. I buy bottled water for drinking, and I boil anything I use for cooking,” he explained.

Stackhouse Management is a property management company based in North Carolina that owns and operates more than 70 communities in six states, according to its website.

Rolling Valley is just one of two properties owned by Stackhouse in Butler County that recently had water-related issues. Both properties operate with private wells.

Earlier in November, dozens of residents of Bernie’s Mobile Home Park, in Winfield Township, reported they had been without drinkable water since October. Residents said the water was undrinkable due to high manganese levels, but were informed by property management of delays in delivering the necessary part for the system to fix it and retesting the water.

While other Rolling Valley residents reached out to the Butler Eagle to express their concerns, they asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation. Many of them reported the same issues with the water, alongside flooding issues and rising water bills.

Tom Decker, a representative of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, said Monday the water at Bernie’s should be safe to drink again after tests were performed by the department and Stackhouse management last week.

Connoquenessing Township Supervisors Angela Fleeger and Bruce Steinhiser, alongside incoming Supervisor Mark Williams, spent significant portions of their weekend supplying Rolling Valley residents with clean water.

Fleeger said when she heard about the situation Thursday, she spent the remainder of the day and the beginning of Friday speaking with the township’s solicitor, secretary, code enforcement officer and more. Later that day, she said she spoke to Stackhouse directly about a timeline on repairs to the well water system.

“Stackhouse told me that they fixed the part at noon Friday, but they were going to wait until Monday to clear the lines. I told them that they can’t leave these people without water,” she said.

Fleeger said she told the Stackhouse representative the township would supply water that Stackhouse would pay for, to which she said they agreed. She was able to get in touch with county officials to supply a water buffalo, a portable trailer-mounted tank for transporting and supplying large volumes of water, to the township.

“I just can’t imagine it,” she said. “I have photos of brown water in tubs and in glasses. On Saturday, we took the buffalo to Rolling Valley and people brought out pots and pans to collect the water.”

So far, she said residents have used about 150 gallons of water as well as taken around a pallet’s worth of bottled water with them.

Fleeger said she wishes the township knew sooner, but believes residents were too afraid of retaliation to speak out.

“They were afraid of saying anything due to them being on month-to-month leases,” she said. “We have residents asking for cleaning supplies and having to buy new clothes. Some said they even experience a burning sensation from the water.”

Fleeger said she was informed Monday evening by Stackhouse that more than 20,000 gallons were flushed from the system Monday and the company expects to flush another 12,000 gallons Tuesday.

“Until we can directly confirm through residents that your water is clean, we will continue to offer support. Residents may continue to access clean water at the township building during normal business hours, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday,” a Monday morning Facebook post by Fleeger said.

Winfield Township Supervisor Matthew Klabnik said area officials also jumped into action last week to communicate with the county when they learned about the situation at Bernie’s.

“We learned about it through the news. No resident reached out and since they have wells, they had no obligation to notify us about it,” he said.

Klabnik said the township wanted to supply residents with bottled water but was unsure how to pay for it. However, he said Lou Negley’s Bottled Water stepped up to donate 168 cases.

“On Friday night the water was delivered, and the county was able to inform residents of Bernie’s about it. We only had seven come to the township building, but we went around, and now there’s only 47 cases left,” he explained.

Klabnik thanked Lou Negley’s for the donation, as it helped the township avoid an unexpected bill. He said while the township holds no responsibility for the residents’ water, it would do everything in its power to support them.

He said he hopes to have a conversation with state Rep. Marci Mustello, R-11th, and other legislators to see about making it so private well owners must inform municipalities when issues with residents’ water arise.

County Commissioner Leslie Osche said she learned about the issues with Rolling Valley through social media and made sure emergency services director Steve Bicehouse was aware of the situation.

As both properties’ water systems are either repaired or being repaired, she said she was glad the county was able to step in alongside the township.

“We just needed to do a little advocacy and help get residents water to get through the weekend,” she said.

Osche added she hopes to have conversations with legislators in the future to address out-of-state landlords that end up falling behind on maintenance.

But Weisenstein said Monday the water is not the first issue he has had with Stackhouse. Previously, he said he’s experienced electrical issues and flooding on his property.

“I had no power for a week,” he said.

As for the water, Weisenstein said he lives near the entrance to the park and does not experience it nearly as severely as residents living further inside. Nevertheless, he said he routinely needs to purchase filters that quickly fill with sediment.

“Some people’s water just looks like sewage,” he said.

He said the property manager no longer returns his calls or texts, and he believes Stackhouse has begun to take retaliatory action toward him.

“When they bought the property, they said no trailers or anything like that. Well, they approved me to have my snowplow but now they’re telling me I have 10 days to get it out,” Weisenstein said.