Coweta residents speak out after three-day-long boil order, city hopeful to lift it Wednesday

Many people living in Coweta are frustrated after being under a boil order for the past three days.

This comes after an issue with the repair in a water line over the weekend.

WATER ISSUES

Jolene Brooks and Joyce Bradshaw live in the same Coweta apartment that is under a boil order.

“I’ve lived here for three years and the water’s been brown off and on in the toilets and the bathtub to where you have to bleach them once a week or every other day actually because the ring in the toilet will be brown like rust,” said Brooks.

“We live with it,” said Bradshaw. “We’ve gotten used to it. We live with it and we do what we have to do to make it work.” 

Since Sunday, they have had to boil their water before using it, after the city says a repair on a water line fell apart.

“It’s awful,” said Brooks. “I’ve got three kids. When you have to do the bottled water for the teeth brushing and the hair and body, it’s different. It’s a hassle. Because they like to get dirty after school, playing outside.”

Brooks hopes for the water situation to go back to normal soon.

“Please hurry,” said Brooks. “Because our animals and us, it’s getting nerve-wracking, and we’re getting tired of having to boil our water and get bottled water just to make it through. It’s not fun.”

CITY RESPONSE

Julie Casteen, the City Manager of the City of Coweta, says for the boil order to be lifted, two tests need to come back clean, and the first has already.

She says the boil order is just a precaution.

“The reason for that is there’s potential for bacteria to enter the system when you have a break like that,” said Casteen. “We didn’t have any evidence that had happened, but we felt, out of precaution, measures should be taken.”

Casteen says the city is also working on ways to fix complaints about the quality of the water.

“While that painting project is underway, we’ll be adding some equipment to the tower that will help us stir the water up to keep some of the byproducts out of the system,” said Casteen. “We’re also dredging our water reservoir at the water plant to remove sludge.”

The second test from the health department is supposed to come back on Wednesday, which could be the earliest the boil order could be lifted.

NEEDING HELP?

Coweta Fire and Police are passing out bottles of water to people affected in the Atwood’s parking lot.