Collin County Homeowners Complain About Smelly Water
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MELISSA (CBS11) - It's one of life's necessities, but some Collin County homeowners say they don't trust their water supply.
The people who live at the end of Eisenhower Avenue tell us it helped when city officials installed a flush valve about a year ago, but since then they've had to ask to have the water flushed weekly if not more often because the problem keeps coming back.
Shannon Sweat and her family have started drinking bottled water exclusively, but she says there's no way to avoid the water in your home completely.
"You get out the shower, and you can still smell that leftover odor on you," Sweat said.
Sweat and some of her neighbors say this has been a problem for at least two years, and now they're not alone.
"You look on the Melissa Facebook pages that we have. The whole city is complaining of bad water," Sweat said.
But city officials say many of the more recent complaints are likely due to a pump failure last week at the water district's treatment facility that came right when an algae bloom caused odors in the drinking water. Melissa's Public Works Director says the reason Sweat has water problems is because her home was built too close to a dead end.
"Because the water is not circulating, the water is more apt to go stagnant there," Jeff Cartwright said.
Cartwright explained Melissa now has a new development plan review process to prevent homes from being built so close to a dead end. When they discovered the problem on Sweat's street, the city installed a flush valve to release stagnant water when necessary, something Sweat finds frustrating.
"We shouldn't have to rely on somebody's memory to do a manual system once a week," Sweat said.
Cartwright says over the next two years Sweat's subdivision will expand, and water will circulate past her home fixing the problem. As for everyone else, he says he's convinced everyone within the city of Melissa has safe water.
Cartwright says he's not aware of any other areas where homes are too close to a dead end, so if anyone has similar problems going back further than last week's pump failure, they're urged to contact the city.
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