Morgantown, West Virginia Water Outage Today

Morgantown tap water system, by the numbers

Federal records name Morgantown Utility Board as the public water system for Morgantown, with about 66,851 people on its mains.

Source water and treatment in Morgantown

Morgantown drinks surface water. Morgantown Utility Board draws it from #1- Cobun Creek Impoundment and the #2-Monongahlia River and treats it before it goes into the distribution system. Treatment points named in EPA's facility list include Treatment Plant. After treatment the water is held in 37 storage tanks and reservoirs and pushed uphill by 18 pump facilities; that storage is the buffer that keeps taps running for a few hours after a pump or main fails.

What this means in an outage. A surface-water system depends on its plant staying online. If the plant, the raw-water pumps or the power feeding them fails, pressure can fall across the entire service area at once, and a precautionary boil notice tends to cover whole zones rather than the single street of a main break.

What causes water outages and low pressure in Morgantown

Which failures hit Morgantown hardest follows from its weather, its housing stock and how it is supplied.

• Freezing weather. Morgantown sees about 113 days a year with a low at or below 32°F, and 30 days at or below 20°F. The coldest morning in the 2015 through 2025 record came on January 31, 2019. The longest stretch with highs that never rose above freezing ran 14 days, ending January 7, 2018. Frost pushes into shallow service lines first. Mains follow when the ground heaves and thaws, which is why break counts climb a day or two after the temperature swings.
• Older neighborhoods and pipe. 52.9% of occupied homes in Morgantown were built before 1970, against 35.5% nationally. Streets of that age tend to sit on cast iron and early steel mains that are near or past their design life, which is where most breaks start.
• Flooding and heavy rain. NOAA logged 48 flood, flash flood and heavy rain reports in Monongalia County from 2015 through 2026, and 4 days a year bring an inch of rain or more. High water can wash out the ground under buried pipe, flood pump stations and push treatment plants past their limits, which is why boil notices so often follow a flood.
• Storm-driven power loss. Thunderstorm wind, hail and tornado reports in Monongalia County number 208 since 2015. Pump stations and treatment plants that depend on Mon Power (FirstEnergy) run on the electric grid, so a storm that downs power lines can lower water pressure even when no pipe is damaged.
• Construction and third-party damage. A backhoe or boring crew that hits a main is among the most common reasons a single block goes dry without warning. Utilities handle those the same way as any break: isolate, repair, flush.
• One-address problems. A closed valve, a meter swap or a failed regulator can leave a single house dry. Compare notes with a neighbor first; if they have water too, start with your own plumbing.

How weather strains the Morgantown water system

Main break season in Morgantown runs from late fall into early spring, with the coldest stretch around December through February.

The figures are reanalysis estimates for the center of Morgantown, not readings from a single weather station, so treat them as a guide to how often each kind of weather occurs rather than as official records.

Boil water advisories and the federal violation record for Morgantown

EPA lists no health-based violations for Morgantown Utility Board since 2015. It also lists 1 monitoring or reporting entry that is about paperwork rather than water quality, such as a missed sample or a late report.

Most recent entries, all monitoring or reporting:

• January 2023: A missed or late monitoring or reporting requirement (chemical and radiological contaminants)

Boil water notices in Morgantown are precautions, not findings. When pressure drops, Morgantown Utility Board tells affected customers to boil water until two rounds of lab tests are clean, a process that normally takes 24 to 48 hours after service is restored, under oversight from the West Virginia Office of Environmental Health Services.

What the lead tests and housing age say about Morgantown

The most recent 90th-percentile lead result filed for Morgantown Utility Board is 0.4 ppb (2025). The federal action level is 15 ppb, so that result is well under it.

The age of the housing matters more than the utility's test average: 52.9% of occupied homes in Morgantown predate 1970 and 1986 was the year lead pipe and solder were banned. Flush the cold tap after an outage and ask Morgantown Utility Board whether your service line is on its lead inventory.

How long a water outage lasts in Morgantown

A crew that arrives at an ordinary main break in Morgantown usually needs 4 to 8 hours to isolate the pipe, dig, repair, flush and restore pressure. Large transmission mains, deep pipes and breaks under busy streets can take a day or more.

Morgantown Utility Board will post an estimated restoration time for a break that affects many customers; ask for the repair crew's estimate when you call.

How much water to keep on hand in Morgantown

Census figures put the typical Morgantown household at about 2.5 people. At one gallon per person per day that is 8 gallons for three days or 35 gallons for a two-week supply.

• 56.3% of households rent. Tell your landlord or property manager about a leak or outage right away, since the shutoff valve may be theirs.
• A standard water heater is a ready-made 40-gallon reserve. Shut off its power or gas, open a hot tap somewhere in the house, and draw from the drain valve.
• If a planned shutoff or storm is coming, fill the tub and some buckets for flushing toilets and washing; keep drinking water in clean sealed containers.

How Morgantown compares with nearby water systems

Water outage pages for nearby cities

Wheeling, WV · Pittsburgh, PA · Parkersburg, WV · Altoona, PA