Residents of the Aqua at Windmeadows apartment complex say they’ve lost water countless times over the years, but this summer, it’s only gotten worse.
Hallie Bell, a 24-year-old Gainesville resident, has lived at the complex for three years. She’s documented 19 separate occasions where the water has been shut off, anywhere from a few hours to “multiple days” without water, she said.
Hallie Bell, a 24-year-old Gainesville resident, has lived at the complex for three years. She’s documented 19 separate occasions where the water has been shut off, anywhere from a few hours to “multiple days” without water, she said.
“There are constant breaks in the piping,” Bell said. “There will be a bit of rain, or something like that will happen, and then the water will be shut off.”
Bell lives with her boyfriend, Dante, and she said the water issues have consistently hindered their lives as young working people. The water will often turn off in the mornings as she’s going to work, causing her to have to skip a shower.
Bell added that the complex fell under a “boil water notice,” meaning residents are recommended to boil their water before consuming it. She doesn’t know if the notice has been investigated since, she said, leaving her unsure about the safety of water consumption in the complex.
Bell believes the pipes are the biggest reason for the outages. Rather than replace the pipes, she said the complex puts “band-aids on bullet holes” by carrying out minor repairs that don’t last.
“Some of our neighbors are disabled,” Bell said. “They can’t go anywhere when the water goes out, and sometimes they’re left multiple days without water, and there’s no rent abatement.”
Bell reached out to government agencies about issues within the complex, including Alachua County Code Administration and the Florida Department of Health. She said she’s yet to receive a response from Code Administration.
Michele, a 77-year-old disabled resident who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation from the complex, has lived in the complex since 2017. Water issues have impacted her for a long time, she said, but she feels for newer residents who aren’t accustomed to the outages. She keeps jugs of water on hand because of her history with the complex.
The complex previously provided gallons of water to residents, but it hasn’t offered resources during recent outages this summer, Michele said.
“The last one that lasted two days, they didn’t mention anything about having any water available,” she said. “Management did not provide any water during this two-day outage.”
Aaron Janosa, a 29-year-old resident of the complex, remembers having issues as early as 2019 but said they were more “infrequent” years ago.
“Within the last couple of months, it’s happened more often,” he said. “Residents just received an urgent email notice. It’s often unexpected.”
Janosa felt the water warnings are a corporate issue that could be resolved by investing in property repairs, he said. However, the property’s parking lot recently resealed potholes the last couple of years, which may hinder repairs due to the fresh asphalt.
Janosa added that the issues in the complex are typically not the staff's fault.
The “most significant” issue was earlier this summer, when the water was interrupted multiple times over the course of a few days, Janosa said. Although he wasn’t as affected because of the multiple water lines in the complex, he said the issues would be “insanely frustrating” for families, considering a unit is “basically unusable” when the water is off.
Aqua at Windmeadows management did not respond to requests for comment.
Contact Logan McBride at lmcbride@alligator.org. Follow him on X @logandmcbride.
Logan McBride is a journalism junior and the Summer 2025 city commission reporter. In his free time, he enjoys watching TV shows or playing basketball at Southwest Rec. He is also a big football fan and will die for Dak Prescott.
