MAGNOLIA, Texas – Residents in one Magnolia community are fed up with their ongoing water issues.
Back in August, KPRC 2 addressed high water bills many residents were having, but now nearly five months later, they have more problems they say are not getting resolved.
“I have a daughter (that) I’m giving a bath every night and she’s sitting in brown muddy water. It’s disgusting,” explained Mill Creek Subdivision resident, Kristen Jackson.
These residents are experiencing brown, murky, and sometimes green water.
“I get depressed quite a bit, and I think it’s not fair for us,” noted another resident, Connie Roe. “My toilet looks like it’s never been cleaned.”
Jackson installed an outdoor home water filtration system earlier this year when she started noticing the brown water. She said the filters are recommended to be changed out every three to six months, but she is having to change them every three to four weeks.
“It’s pretty gross,” noted Jackson.
Both Jackson and Roe, along with dozens of others in the community, said it’s not just the water quality that is causing everyone headaches. They say the water is randomly shut off for hours at a time with no warning. Most recently, they said it was shut off for over six hours, and when it was back on, it was brown.
“That’s ridiculous,” explained Roe. “We’re not in a third-world country, you know. It’s ridiculous. It was just miserable because we didn’t know when it would go off. No one ever told us, ‘Hey, we’re cutting the water off for about three hours.’”
So, now after months of this, the residents are just hoping for some solutions instead of a slew of answers that they say don’t seem to make sense.
“They give us a whole bunch of excuses like, we have a project or the guys cut the line... this and that,” noted Roe. “They tell us to run the water when it is brown and then our meter goes crazy and so does our water bill.”
“When we push for answers the excuses change,” said Jackson.
The city of Magnolia has sent emails to residents that state they are completing the fourth water well and are expecting proposals for a fifth, no longer issuing new water connections, and currently have Stage 2 water restrictions in place. But Jackson, who has lived in the community for two years, said she is worried there is no end in sight.
“I just want to be a good mom, and here I am bathing my kid in what could be the pond behind our house because who truly knows what is in the water,” said Jackson.
If you are having murky or discolored water, they encourage you to make a complaint to TCEQ. TCEQ’s Houston Region Office will conduct an investigation to evaluate concerns pertaining to the water quality in the community.
KPRC reached out to the city of Magnolia and was directed to the city administrator who has not gotten back to us. We also contacted the builder, but so far no word on what is going on and what is being done to solve this problem.