Saul residents protest Perry County water problems, demand clean service

Residents of the Saul community gathered at the Perry County courthouse Tuesday to demand access to clean, reliable water, turning a basic service failure into a direct challenge to county leaders. Rosa Couch, a lifelong Saul resident, said families in the area have long depended on springs and private wells, a sign that many households have been forced to patch together water access instead of relying on a stable system.

That dependence has shaped daily life in a rural part of Perry County where safe running water is needed for drinking, cooking, bathing, and sanitation. Residents said county-delivered water has also been inconsistent, leaving families without a dependable way to carry out ordinary routines at home. The protest put public pressure on officials and utility providers to explain not only why the service has failed, but why it has continued to fall short for so many households.

The Saul gathering came after a string of earlier water problems across the county in 2026. On Jan. 30, nearly 400 residents in northern Perry County were without water, and Hazard City Manager Tony Eversole said there had been a 30 million-gallon increase in water use compared with the prior year. Less than two weeks later, Sheriff Joe Engle said he filed a complaint with the Kentucky Attorney General’s office after going nine days without water at his home.

By Feb. 12, some service had been restored after a winter storm damaged infrastructure, but residents in north and central Perry County had already gone up to 10 days without running water. Engle said he relied on a local freshwater spring and his backyard pool for water needs during the outage, underscoring how quickly a utility failure can spill into basic household survival.

The Saul protest also revived questions about long-promised fixes. In 2021, officials announced a $3.5 million grant to help improve Perry County’s water system, including a new treatment plant plan in Buckhorn. In 2023, Gov. Andy Beshear announced more than $8 million in Perry County infrastructure improvements, including clean-water work. Tuesday’s courthouse gathering showed that, for Saul families, those investments have not yet translated into water service they can trust from day to day.