Rural Water Access struggles

Getting cut off at the tap

We made mention of this a moment ago: shortages of toilet paper and cleaning goods.

In one north iowa community, folks are having a hard time getting a hold of a far more basic necessities.

Kimt news 3's nick kruszalnicki is live in mason city to explain.

Nick?

George and katie á you may have seen them at the grocery stores.

Those water vending machines where you can bring your own containers and fill them up at a fraction of the cost of bottled water.

One garner resident i spoke with tells me he's been having trouble finding a place to get his water.

"i've been trying to get water and nobody will let me fill my water jugs up."

Ricky winger is frustrated.

Local stores have closed their water refill stations because of the coronavirus.

He relies on the service because his home well is contaminated.

Preápackaged water is just too pricy.

The machines only charge 35 cents per gallon, while bottled water can easily cost a dollar or more per gallon.

"she got kidney disease and that's why we drink the bottled water and i got three fiveágallon jugs that we keep on hand."

Winger reached out for help and luckily folks in garner came up with a solution for his drinking water dilemma.

"i talked to one lady and there's a bar in garner they told me, max's pub or something.

They told me that i can bring my jugs to their place and they'll fill my jugs up for me."

Winger hopes more people will open up their hearts á and their taps, to help out folks in the community who are struggling to find an affordable source of clean water.

"maybe people can stick together now and come together.

Like i said maybe the water companies can not all stores are shutting down their water vending machines.

So you might want to call ahead before you fill up.

Live in mason city, nick kruszalnicki, kimt news 3.

Thanks nick.

Hopefully some of those staple items will be easier to get.

We're finding out tonight that some target stores are limiting how much shoppers can buy, so there's more to go around.