Alabama Power drilling linked to 400-foot Vandiver well damage
Alabama Power drilling left Peter Adkins saying his Vandiver well water still smells and stains, even after his home’s water was restored with a new, deeper well. He says the problem started after his neighbors’ wells ran dry in January of last year, and court documents tie that loss to an Alabama Power fiber optic drilling project.
Peter Adkins’ 86-Foot Well
86 feet was the original depth of Adkins’ well before the damage he describes. He said it now reaches around 400 feet, a change that turned a private water source into a much larger construction and legal dispute for Lake View Circle residents.
“It’s worse than you could ever think,” Adkins said of the water problems. He said, “It smells. It is dying our sinks; it’s dying our clothes. And my wife here, she is putting highlights in her hair and the iron in the water is making it turn orange.”
Lake View Circle After January
January of last year was when Adkins said his and his neighbors’ wells ran dry, and residents have dealt with water supply problems for about a year and a half. Alabama Power drilled deeper wells and restored water to the residents who lost it, but Adkins said the water still has bad iron and a bad smell.
That split between restored service and ongoing complaints is the friction in the case: the utility says access returned, while homeowners say quality did not. For affected residents, the practical issue is not just whether water comes out of the tap, but whether they can trust it in the house without staining sinks, clothes, or hair.
Testing, Restoration, Litigation
Alabama Power said it restored water and provided new wells to all impacted residents. It also said each well underwent extensive testing for water quantity and quality under the supervision of hydrogeologic experts before connection and again after residents reported concerns.
Residents have elected to continue litigation, keeping the dispute in court after the repairs and testing. Adkins said he wants the water in his home to be the same quality as it was before the issues started, which leaves the case centered on whether the restored wells are enough to solve the complaint that started it.
“We have been and we have answered and done everything out. Alabama power company has asked us to do as presenting that history, staff, doctors and all this stuff. And they still haven’t reached out to us and tell us, okay, we’re going to do this. Do this to help y’all’s water situation. But as of today, we still got bad iron, bad smell in our water. And it’s just aggravate,” Adkins said.
