ST. CLOUD, Fla. -- Smelly, orange water – that's what people say they are living with in St. Cloud.
- St. Cloud residents are dealing with water issues
- They say the water is smelly and discolored
- The city says it's still safe to drink
The city said it's experiencing operational issues but that the water is still safe to drink.
"Sometimes I have to deal with black mold coming out of the bathroom faucets," Catherine Hasselberger said.
She's a St. Cloud resident who said she is tired of dealing with water issues at home.
"I smell sometimes rotten egg, a lot of times super chlorinated water, you can smell it," she said.
It doesn't surprise Hasselberger that other residents have taken to social media to complain about the smell of chlorine and an orange residue in the water.
"I don't feel good about it. That's our safety at hand here," she said.
The city of St. Cloud said water plant number 4 broke down and ordering a new piece a polishing unit from Minnesota for filtering is taking 9 months to arrive.
"The water is safe. I know it's inconvenient. They're paying for it," Public Services Administrator Dianna Rawleigh said. "If it wasn't safe there would be notices put out to boil or do other things."
"The city is redoing everything to minimize the impact and get this taken care of as quickly as possible," she added.
Whether it's orange, brown or black, the city said any possible discoloration in the water is due to a loss of resin from the affected plant. Plant number 4 is now being used less, but another older plant that uses chlorine as a disinfectant is being used more.
Hasselberger who has a pool and pets worries about the water. She just wants things to go back to normal.
"I would hope that they fix it and fix it properly," Hasselberger said.
The city has brought in a consulting firm to help with any water plant issues. The city anticipates that the repairs to plant number 4 should be done by June.