For about a month, Madalyn Smith has been heating water she collects in jugs at a nearby spring on her stove to quickly rinse off in her shower.

That’s because Smith — and all of her neighbors at Bernie’s Mobile Home Park in Winfield — have been without usable water since Oct. 16.

Last month, property managers advised residents that higher than acceptable amounts of manganese had been detected in the wells that serve the park.

The notice told residents not to drink the water or use it to cook, clean or shower — even if they boiled it.

The park is owned by Jones Estates Bernies PA LLC and managed by North Carolina-based Stackhouse Management. Since the initial notice, the company has sporadically distributed cases of bottled water.

But it’s far from enough, Smith said.

That’s all the more true for Smith’s neighbor, Kellie Walker.

Walker, along with her fiancé John Green, have three children to care for, including a 1-year-old boy. The family has lived at their home for about two years, she said.

Since the notice went out, she said she’s been bathing, cooking and washing dishes at her father’s house nearby. Before she leaves, Walker said she fills up several plastic jugs of water to bring home.

“I didn’t buy this place to have to go to my dad’s,” Walker said.

Though residents have remained without water for the past month, Walker said property managers have still sent out water bills and threatened her and several neighbors with maintenance citations.

Walker said she’s already in discussions to end her lease, but she worries for many of her neighbors with few options, many of whom are elderly.

“I will go live in a cardboard box before I continue to pay for this crap,” she said.

Among those neighbors is Jim Miller, an 82-year-old Vietnam veteran who has lived in his trailer for 43 years.

Miller, who recently suffered a stroke, is cared for by his daughters, Angel File and Patty Knapp.

Before Stackhouse Management took over the park in 2022, File said residents didn’t pay a water bill. But soon after the new company came in, it installed water meters at each unit.

In the subsequent three years, Knapp said her father’s rent has also about doubled.

But when File turned on the sink at her father’s home Friday afternoon, the water came out a pale yellow.

Without clean water, File said she takes a large cooler — like one used by sports teams — to her father’s home.

That’s made bathing her aging father all the more difficult, File said.

“He should be able to drink water and shower in his own home,” Knapp said.

The sisters said they’re hoping for a resolution soon but remain flummoxed in the meantime.

“He has nowhere to go,” Knapp said.

But the lack of water is only one among several issues, longtime resident Roger Tebay said.

Tebay and his wife, Gail, have lived in their home for 48 years.

He said things were good under previous ownership, the local McKruit family. But after Stackhouse Management took over, Tebay said his rent has similarly doubled, he’s been threatened with citations and he suddenly had to pay for water.

And now, that water’s not safe.

“It’s disheartening; it’s oppressive, and we have no one to fight for us,” Tebay said.

A former coal miner, Tebay said he’s tried to help his neighbors over the decades, chipping in toward heating oil for one neighbor and buying a furnace for another.

But with the recent financial strain, he said he’s suddenly the one who needs help.

“I never thought I had to worry about losing my home,” Tebay said.

When TribLive staffers arrived at the park, site manager Kylie Goldstrohm told them it was private property, and instructed them to leave.

She later declined a request for comment.

Stackhouse did not respond to a TribLive request for comment.

An initial Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection report at the park cited a “break down in ion exchange treatment” as the cause of the high manganese.

On Thursday, Stackhouse issued a notice to residents saying repairs had been delayed while the company waited for replacement parts. The company said its “water softener system” has since been “fully restored.”

Initial tests showed the water to be within acceptable standards, Stackhouse said, but the company said it expects testing results from the DEP by Monday.

For now, the notice said residents are under a boil water advisory.

DEP officials did not respond to TribLive requests for comment.

It remains unclear when park residents will be able resume normal use of their water.

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