BATON ROUGE - The Riverland Mobile Home Park located off north Airline Highway in Baton Rouge is filled with families with small children who have been without running water for more than nine days.

"Not ever have we been without water like this," Riverland resident, Melanie Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald has lived in Riverland for about 5 years now. She says residents have been getting water any way they can.

"We're just getting it from faucets and stuff and hauling it in.  We pour it in the toilets and heat the water up for bathing and stuff like that. That's about all you can do really," said Fitzgerald. 

Riverland residents have been storing water in buckets, and some have even installed large outdoor water containers.

The owner of the mobile park supplied each family with 12 one-gallon jugs of water.

The cause of this problem is a broken water pipe and meter that services Riverland that is located on private property that's not owned by the mobile home park.

 
"Why did the water department, Baton Rouge Water, put the meter and lines on someone else's property?" John Matassa the owner of Riverland asked.

The Baton Rouge Water Company said in a statement that "Meters are set in private servitudes or a right-of-way. The lines beyond the meter are owned and maintained by the customer. To clarify, the Baton Rouge Water Company does not install the customer lines."

Matassa says he's finally tracked down the owner of the property, where the water meter is located and is getting permission to fix the broken lines.

"We can commence this work on Tuesday, and hopefully have water back on by the end of the day Tuesday," Matassa said.

The water service is included in the money tenants pay for renting lots inside of the mobile home park.