And the water isn’t even clean, property owners say.

For decades, residents in Walnut Tree, made up mostly of black property owners, have asked the Walnut Cove commissioners to annex them. They see annexation as a way to permanently fix their water woes and, finally, pay the same water and sewer rates as those paid by consumers in Walnut Cove.

So far, the annexation petitions haven’t worked.

Last week, Walnut Tree property owners submitted a petition for annexation to the Walnut Cove commissioners. This attempt could be different. On the board now sit two Democrats who favor annexation — Charles Mitchell and Danny Hairston, according to interviews after they were elected in November.

All they would need is a third vote.

“They want to be able to have a voice in the town council,” said David Hairston, a Stokes resident who inherited his mother’s property in Walnut Tree. “The town council is making decisions on their behalf and they don’t have a say.”

Water ‘stinks’

In the early 1970s, a local newspaper ad paid for by Fortis Enterprises Inc. tried to hook families into buying property in Walnut Tree, a new community at the time. The ad says, more or less, that front page articles saying that families can’t buy a new home because of high interest rates are “HOGWASH!”

Through Fortis, the King-based developer, property owners could buy homes, according to the ad.

Ada Linster, 67, was one of the first to move into the neighborhood in the early 1970s.

Through the years, she said last week, water problems have persisted. Two wells feed the area — now about 78 households. First, the wells were operated by Fortis, she said, then another private company, before being taken over by the town of Walnut Cove.

“The development was supposed to be annexed,” she said, “and that was back in the 1970s.”

Now, she owns a water cooler — the kind that might be found in an office — and buys drinking water by the jug. Tap water changes the color of clothing. It wrecks coffee pots. Still, Linster, along with the other Walnut Tree residents, pay out-of-town rates for the water that flows through her faucet, the water she and her husband, Willie Linster, 66, refuse to drink.

“I haven’t drunk that water for years,” he said. “You have to let that baby run before it don’t stink.”

Worth the money

If Willie Linster lived about half a mile to west in the town of Walnut Cove, he’d pay $29.57 for water every two months, up to 5,000 gallons, according to town officials. Sewer: $31.64. But because he lives in Walnut Tree, he must pay a base rate of $51.20 every two months for water. Sewer: $57.74.

For the year, the base water-sewer bill comes to $653 in Walnut Tree. In Walnut Cove, it’s $367.

The potential annual savings of annexation on water and sewer would be $286.

But if annexed, the Linsters would also pay more in total property taxes — the new Walnut Cove tax as well the current Stokes tax.

On their home worth about $115,000, the Linsters’ additional annual tax bill for Walnut Cove would increase by $460, an amount that would wipe out the savings from in-town water and sewer rates. And there’s another cost: garbage pickup. It’s about $25 every two months.

“It’s going to be a wash,” said Bobby Miller, the town manager since September, referring to the possible benefits or costs that both the town and the Walnut Tree residents could face.

But for the Linsters, it would be worth it.

Along with annexation would come other services such as more street lights and garbage pickup. More important would be the ability to vote in the town board elections, especially if the town board does not permanently fix their water problems.

Asked what possible reason the town could give to refuse annexation, Ada Linster said, “They’ll have to come up with a new lie.”

‘We’re going to fix the water’

There is no doubt that water problems persist in Walnut Tree.

About two months after Miller took over as town manager, he started receiving complaints of discolored water, he said last week. Subsequently, he had lines flushed. But after three or four months, there were more problems.

“Discoloration is a regular problem,” he said, adding that it’s likely caused by manganese and iron.

Miller has ordered filters to be changed and more testing.

At the meeting of the town commissioners last week, there was also talk of bacteria in the water. As it turns out, a Walnut Tree resident had his water tested by a lab where he works, and it turned up a positive result for bacteria. A subsequent test conducted by an independent company and ordered by Miller of water in the same household turned up a negative. No bacteria.

“Annexation or not — we’re going to fix the water,” he said.

Before the town board may even consider whether to annex Walnut Tree, the neighborhood residents must clear a high hurdle: A state statute requires 100 percent of property owners to sign onto the petition for annexation.

Hairston, the Stokes resident who inherited his mother’s property in Walnut Tree, was one of the organizational leaders who helped get all the signatures for the annexation petition.

“We have 100 percent,” he said.

The names should be verified by the next meeting in March, Miller said.

Meanwhile, Hairston has been working with Neighbors for Better Neighborhoods, or NBN, based in Winston-Salem, to organize a plan to develop a bunch of lots into a community center with a playground. It could be a place where children could go after school, use a computer or hang out with mentors, he said.

“That land — they haven’t been able to develop it because of the water issue,” said Nakida McDaniel, a lead community organizer with NBN. “If our neighbor is in trouble, we’re in trouble.”