Emergency meeting due to salty water

CAMDEN, Ohio (WDTN) - Camden leaders held an emergency meeting Wednesday about their salty drinking water.

Residents expressed their frustration with the lack of fresh water available in Camden. Residents want the city to tap into two water fields north of the city so they can have clean water to drink.

Rob Dake, a Camden resident said, "Our water is to be shut off today. They first said we had six weeks, it went down to one week, and they said on Monday, Wednesday it will be shut down."

Dake said the village needs to work faster to tap into a new water source. "Well diggers found two good wells north of the salt field."

But Dake said some council members want to drill south of town to find water and believes that's a bad move. "If they stay north of it, they stay away from the salt plume. If they go south which is where the gravel pit is, which is where they want to propose the temporary fix, they're going to draw the salt plume further south, which is where the water flows," said Dake.

Camden Council said no plans are set in stone. "Going south is not a done deal," council member Rayanne Allen stated.

Allen said the village is looking at every angle and making plans for the future.

"This is new for all of us. None of us had to deal with this before and we're trying to work with the EPA to make sure they advise us in the correct direction that we need to go," Allen stated.

Allen said the village is waiting on water test results for the two water fields north of the salt pile.