FLORESVILLE, Texas — In the Arrowhead subdivision in Floresville, discolored water coming from home taps is not an abnormal sight.
“We built the house in 2000, and it's always been like that,” said Gilbert Arizu, who lives in the neighborhood. “It was just something that we accepted, if we're going to live here. We didn't have the money to put a well in and have our own water, but it would have been the same.”
Residents describe the water from their taps as brown, orange or yellow. All of them say the water contains sediment, and in the instances when water does come out clear from their taps, it smells of chlorine.
The water and its sediment, they say, stains their white clothes, pools, sinks, bathtubs and toilets. Their water supplier notified residents they were conducting testing after recent disinfection efforts.
“It's not only a safety issue, it's not only a concern, but the fact that we're in 2020 and we're paying double the rate and we're having to soak in brown water is disgusting,” said Carrie Wilcoxson, another resident. “It's disgusting and it's embarrassing."
Water for the neighborhood all connects to a well owned by Arrowhead Water System, a subsidiary of Central State Water Resources-Texas. Neighbors said Arrowhead Water System recently hiked up water bills.
“Recently, our average water bill was $40 and that was OK,” Arizu said. “We buy water in bottles, that's our drinking water. But my average water bill a month now is $110. The monthly bills went up, the quality has just stayed the same.”
Some neighbors, including Bruce Perkins, have resorted to installing their own filtration systems. Perkins explains he’s spent thousands of dollars to clean his pool and install a reverse osmosis filtration system to no avail.
“You would think that (reverse osmosis filtration) would fix the problem,” Perkins said. “No, it didn't fix it I still get the orange-colored water. Just a month ago, I purged my hot water system again and it was gross again. I’ve done it twice and I still have that problem.”
While neighbors have now resorted to buying water for their consumption, pets' consumption, and for cooking, they still use the tap water to bathe, do laundry, wash dishes, water their gardens, and all their other needs.
Taking legal action
The water well is visible from Wilcoxson’s home, and her home is the first on the water supply. After numerous attempts to contact the company, Wilcoxson explains she hasn’t paid her water bill in about a year.
Instead, she's hired an attorney, in hopes the company who owns the well takes action.
“About eight months ago, my older German shepherd, I took him to the vet,” she said. “He was vomiting, he was X-rayed, and his intestines was inflamed. And it was believed that it could be as a result of the quality of the water. That's when I became increasingly upset. We're being asked to flush to the tune of hundreds and thousands of gallons at our cost and nothing's been done.”
On Thursday, neighbors received a letter from the CSWR-Texas letting them know the water well had tested positive for E. coli on Sept. 21.
“CSWR-Texas and its operating partner have disinfected both wells of the water system,” the letter said. “Subsequent samples were collected and have been relinquished to the laboratory for analysis which will take 24 hours to complete. Because these results were obtained prior to disinfection, no boil water notice was issued. The results will likely be completed around mid-day September 24.”
CSWR-Texas told KENS 5 in a statement that it took residents' concerns seriously, adding it was working to determine how to "mitigate" their ballooning financial burden.
"We are exploring options such as installing automatic flushers, which would reduce the need for residents to manually flush their lines at their own expense," CSWR officials went on to say. "Currently, our team conducts weekly flushing of the system to maintain the best water quality possible. We understand that billing concerns sometimes arise, and we review these cases carefully, working directly with impacted customers to ensure that any discrepancies are addressed fairly.”
KENS 5 reached out the TCEQ for a statement. Here is the statement the agency provided:
"The San Antonio Region received a complaint on September 19, 2024, concerning sediment and discolored water with a strong chlorine smell. A complaint investigation has been opened and additional information will be available upon approval of the investigation report.
As of September 25, 2024, Arrowhead Water System (Public Water System ID TX2470025) in Wilson County has outstanding violations for failure to monitor and report for water quality parameter under the Lead and Copper Rule for during six-month periods from January to June 2023, July to December 2023, and January to June 2024.
Arrowhead Water System has an outstanding violation for failure to submit the second quarter (April to June) 2024 disinfectant limit quarterly operating report (DLQOR) to TCEQ.
Non-compliance secondary standards samples collected in the distribution system during June 2024 were above the secondary contaminant level (SCL) 0.3 milligrams per liter (mg/L) for iron. SCLs are based on the aesthetic nature of chemicals in that they can discolor drinking water and may add taste and/or odor problems. At levels above the SCL, iron can impart a rusty color, sediment, metallic taste, and reddish/orange staining. Results in June 2024 ranged from 0.5 to 0.57 mg/L."
Wilcoxson and her neighbors have called for a meeting with CSWR-Texas and with the Texas Commission on Environment Quality to address the issues. That meeting is set for Sunday.
“All we want is for the water company to do whatever they need to do, whatever that may be,” Wilcoxson said. “Whether that's a new well, whether it's an updated filtration system, whatever it needs to be. Whatever needs to be done, it needs to be done by them. The onus of this issue is on them. Improving it and resolving it is on them.”