This might be tough for a lot of us to imagine--Right now in our area, there are people who do not have indoor plumbing in their homes. Instead of going to the bathroom inside their houses, they have to trek outside to outhouses. This is happening in 2016 in Hampton Roads.
Between the metro area and the Eastern Shore, there are 7,790 people living in homes without complete plumbing systems. They have no running water, no flushing toilets and none of the things a lot of us take for granted.
Front porch sitting is a hallmark of rural life.
“What's my favorite part,” Eastern Shore resident Ann Handy pondered from her front porch on Payne Road. “I like to sit out and watch the traffic go by.”
It's the country way.
“You know people go by, they wave at me and I wave back at them,” the 78-year-old described. “I enjoy that.”
It wasn't until recently Ann Handy had the option of sitting on the front porch. Her new home has a front porch. Not only did her old one not have one, but it also did not have any indoor plumbing. She spent her whole life living without running water and without an indoor bathroom to use.
When we say old home, we're not talking about memories from decades ago. Up until September of last year, just eight months ago, Ann lived in a rundown home.
“I lived in a cement house, a four room cement house,” she told 13News Now.
It's a situation most of us can't imagine in this day and age.
“Well, at that particular time we had like a potty and we used that until the next morning then we'd take that to the bathroom and dump it,” she recalled.
Ann and her family are not alone. According to the latest US Census Bureau data, 7,790 people right here in Virginia lack complete plumbing facilities in their homes. Many of those people live in homes on the Eastern Shore.
Geography is a huge factor in the concentration there.
For example, the town of Cape Charles has one of only a few sewer systems on the Eastern Shore. It would cost so many millions of dollars to extend sewer service to a subdivision miles away, it doesn’t make sense to do the work. Instead, crews need to install separate septic systems for individual homes.
Officials in Northampton and Accomack counties are going out to count every single home right now to get a handle on exactly how many separate septic systems are needed.
“I don't think the average Virginian realizes the struggle some people have just to use the bathroom,”
Elaine Nachtrieb Meil, Executive Director of the Planning District Commission, said.
The group coordinates a state loan, which can be used to get people the indoor plumbing expected in homes nowadays.
“We really want to eradicate this problem on the Eastern Shore,” Nachtrieb Meil stated.
The money is used to either repair the existing house and install a bathroom and sewer system, or in cases where the existing house is substandard, build a new replacement house. The loan is based on your ability to pay.
“So if you lose your job, you come to our office, you submit that and your payment goes down and the rest is forgiven,” Nachtrieb Meil explained. “As you get jobs, you have to pay more of the mortgage and after ten years it's your house again.”
Ann Handy applied for the program multiple times before the funding was approved early last year.
“I was tickled to death,” she remembered.
The home where generations of her family lived, was demolished in May of 2015 and the new, more modern one was built for her.
“I was so happy,” she exclaimed. “I was very proud of it.”
Officials added if they don't get the resources and an accurate count, in ten years this problem might still exist. That means in 2026 right here in Hampton Roads, there might still be people living without indoor plumbing.