More than 40 people attended a recent meeting of the Polk County Water Authority to ask that water be provided to their rural land near Esom Hill.

The room was tense as residents challenged the board, some with tearful statements. At one point, police intervened to calm the situation and prepared to take people out of the room.

“I want my water. I’m not going to let it go,” said April Fincher, a Jud Brazier Road resident.

The board’s chairman said the authority was doing all it could do.

“We did want to put water up that mountain. We do. We really do,” said Harold McDurmon, chairman of the Polk County Water Authority.

McDurmon cited the estimated $600,000 that it would cost to bring water to that area as a roadblock. Authority members said they couldn’t justify spending that amount of money to provide water to eight to ten houses.

“We have also checked for opportunities for future growth or development in that part of the county, such as planned subdivisions, industry or businesses, apartments, or other projects that might help to justify the spending, but there are none,” Damron said in a prepared statement released at the meeting.

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