Photo by Sam Yu Vicki Poole holds a glass of water on Tuesday afternoon that she got out of a home faucet last Thursday. The Poole family lives on Glade Road near Walkersville. Free water Wal-Mart has donated 3,000 gallon containers of water for Walkersville residents, said town commissioner Chad Weddle. Residents may pick them up from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday in the parking lot of Town Hall at 21 W. Frederick St. The boil water advisory will remain in effect for at least six more days.

Test results this week from untreated water show the levels of bacteria and E. coli are greater than in 1999, said Mike Marschner, director of the county's Division of Utilities and Solid Waste Management.

The contamination is the result of a manure lagoon pipe that burst last week, said town commissioner Chad Weddle. The burst actually created two spills, one on Jan. 22 and a second Friday night into Saturday morning.

This spill took about four days to infiltrate the town's water supply, compared to 1999 when it took nine days, Marschner said.

These findings were released during a press conference Tuesday afternoon at Town Hall. The meeting room was packed with media, town and county officials and concerned residents.

As rain poured down Tuesday, county employees worked to install a temporary water line along Md. 194 connecting Walkersville to the county's water supply.

Marschner estimated the line would be operational within days.

The line is similar to the one used in 1999, and Marschner cautioned residents that such a time frame could apply to this spill as well.

It is too soon to tell how much this spill will cost the town, Weddle said.

Neighbors dispute contamination's cause

Two of the residents at Tuesday's press conference were Vicki and Ed Poole.

They live next to the Teabow Farm, which is where they say the spill occurred. That farm is owned by James Stup.

During the conference, town and county officials did not name the farmer responsible and Stup could not be reached Tuesday evening.

Stup came to Pooles' home recently and apologized for the spill, they said prior to the conference.

"I believe it was an accident," Ed Poole said.

At the conference, Vicki Poole stood and showed the group of about 50 people a clear container holding dark water from a faucet in her home at 10017 Glade Road. She told the group the spill was not just a freak occurrence. Water has been a problem in her home for more than a decade and she believes the farm is responsible.

She and her husband have called the Maryland Department of the Environment numerous times over the years and received no answers or results.

"We sat quiet all of these years," Vicki Poole said. "We are tired of it."

Board of County Commissioners President Jan Gardner said the county would look into the Pooles' concerns and County Commissioner David Gray said their situation was outrageous.

"This shocks me," he said.

Prior to the press conference, the Pooles showed The Frederick News-Post a 5-inch-plus green folder filled with lab results, records of phone calls to officials and pictures of manure floating in Glade Creek and water with manure from various locations in their home.

On a shelf by their kitchen window, two glasses decorated with grapes sat with water filled from their sink faucet Thursday. The water was the color of mud and large deposits had settled on the bottoms.

In their basement, the couple has a complicated array of filters, tanks, and pumps that cleans their well water every day -- nine stations for cold water and 10 for hot water. They have had this system for several years.

Sitting beside the pumps and filters are two buckets of dark water, collected after last week's spill. Several glass tubes connected to the pieces of equipment should be clear, but they are a dark brown.

"This has been an ongoing problem for us," Vicki said.

The couple bought their home and several acres about 11 years ago. Six months after moving in, their 135-foot well was condemned by the county due to contamination. Officials told them to build a 369-foot well at another location. Within two weeks, it also became contaminated, so they opted to buy the water equipment.

Over the years, they have spent more than $100,000 on equipment, lab reports, maintenance, bottled water and gas driving to relatives' homes to shower, among other expenses.

Their water situation was further compromised as the Teabow Farm expanded over the years, the Pooles said.

Thursday, they again found their system and faucets were churning out mud-colored water. Friday, a MDE official told them the department inspected Teabow Farm and nothing was wrong.

Monday, MDE officials admitted there was a problem, but Ed Poole still believes they have not done enough to remove safety hazards from the farm.