SWEENY, Texas – While driving through the city of Sweeny, several residents said they are tired and fed up with the quality of their water.
Resident Allen Jeffries said the consistent discoloration and odor have caused him to pack his bags.
“I bought a place outside of town to live,” he said.
Sweeny city manager Lindsay Koskiniemi said they have received 56 complaints about the water since January.
“We started to notice a huge uptick in dirty water calls around February,” said Koskiniemi. “While we are to TCEQ drinking standards for water, when people see coloration in their water, it is very alarming.”
Now, KPRC 2 is asking how the water got to this point.
“I feel like it’s a combination of several things,” Koskiniemi said. “I’m not a licensed water operator so I can’t definitively say... but what I can say is we are taking it very seriously.”
She said the city hired independent samplers to look into the water.
“Consistently, the test show that we have elevated levels of manganese,” Koskiniemi said. “We have 12-inch water lines all throughout the city that are being replaced. However, this project is quite delinquent. They’ve closed out two phases of the project, however, it was supposed to be substantially completed in December of 2021.”
She said now their focus is cleaning up their 80-year-old water system.
“Nobody wants to have discolored water,” Koskiniemi said.
On Monday, the city council is planning to hold a special session to discuss making urgent repairs.