Howards Nasty Brown Stinking Water!!

Teresa · July 06, 2009, 10:27:48 AM

Well I have refrained form starting this thread for well over 2 weeks now.. But I HAVE HAD IT!!!!!
Seems Howard Kansas is the only town that has water that smell like it comes straight out of an old barrel of
dead fish. Plus it is BROWN.. PLUS you can't use Clorox to wash your white clothes as it makes them come out looking like you tried to tie dye them in strong coffee.
I had 10 of my white big and EXPENSIVE thirsty towels .. and 6 of Kjell's new gun sponsored T-Shirts that I washed. Came out absolutely ruined! I rewashed them in hot water NO BLEACH ( with lots of Borax) and it seems that that those lovely stains all over them are there to stay. Looks like I mopped up a kitchen of spilled coffee with them.
I am so damned mad.
We are in essence paying for water that we can not drink.. can not cook with.. can not do laundry with with and I actually would rather go directly to the lake to take a bath because the chemicals "our water man" is putting in there guessing what the problem is, is so hard on your skin and hair that I would rather have straight lake water to use. If there is so many chemicals in our water that it is directly effecting anything we add to it in our household.. what in the world do you think it is doing to peoples skin and inside of their bodies??!!??!! ( for the poor souls who have to drink this crap!)
It's just like going to the grocery store and being forced to buy food that you know is spoiled and will not eat! Ridiculous that the problem is there to begin with.. let alone no one who is smart enough at their job to be able to remedy it!

I don't want to hear any more excuses and blame put on " Weeelllll, the lake turned over".. BULL BUTTER!
The lake has turned over every year as long as I have been alive and NEVER could you not use the water to wash your clothes with. It might have smelled for a few days or a week.. but NOT 3 weeks solid and have it as browns as a monkeys ass...and it isn't getting better.

We were out in the Howard Lake 2 times in the past 2 weeks swimming and boating. The lake is fine. There is lots of boats on it keeping the water aerated and there is no moss floating around on top , like it does when it turns over. My hair didn't stink and my swim suit didn't stink like lake water. I was in the water for at least 3 hours solid, bobbing around and the water itself didn't smell at all.
We filled up our 200 gallon water tank that we use for our RVs. You wouldn't want to put it in your holding tanks!

The tank..

The water:

To imagine what my whites look like.. grab a white t-shirt.. pour a pot of coffee on it and you'll know. And we are supposed to DRINK this stuff?

There is a Council Meeting tonight at the cox building in the east room... at 7:30 It will be addressing the water situation. There are quite a few people that say that they are going.
Be one of them.
We need to be heard. Our water is something that effects all of us and our families.

Diane Amberg · July 06, 2009, 10:52:08 AM

I suspect the fish bowl odor is from an Algae bloom and could the brown stains be rust? Is so, don't use a dryer or they may set. We have a lot of natural iron in our water and can't use chlorine bleach because it will cause rust spots on clothes. We have to use dry bleach instead. Oxalic acid ,or most any acid, like lemon juice, will take out the stains if you are patient.

Teresa · July 06, 2009, 12:27:41 PM

My patience is gone and my give a damn is just beginning.. LOL

ONE of the problems is the outtake tube is not adjustable. It was brought up years ago that the out take tube needed to be replaced. But at the time, our lake was 20 ft deep.So the Council voted to not replace it because of the cost ( now to replace it is double what it was of course) Now the depth of the lake is about 12-15 ft deep. and the out take tube is closer to the bottom now than it was. I understand that is where the smell is coming from ( the bottom of the lake) but the chemicals that are screwed up is a whole other problem.

Derek just said Kake News will be at the council meeting tonight. It should be interesting. If need be I will speak.. but from the calls and complaints the city office is getting, I imagine there will plenty of mouths. Hopefully everyone will conduct themselves in a polite manner while getting their opinions across.

frawin · July 06, 2009, 01:17:03 PM

Teresa, you might try Oxiclean. I've used it to get out some stains. It May not work, but might be work a try to soak your stained things in first and then wash them. Just a thought.
Myrna

flo · July 06, 2009, 01:31:43 PM

I likened the smell to a dirty, damp, musty, moldy old cellar - sure don't stay in the shower any longer than I have to and lather on the lotions and body spray to make sure my skin don't smell like the water I just showered with. Last summer I bought a Brita when the "lake turned over" but this crap they're calling water now even ruined that. After it run through the charcoal filter, it still smelled. I took the filter out and smelled it and OMG. So cleaned it good with bottled water and now using only bottled water. That does get a bit expensive for drinking, cooking, making coffee, taking meds, making sure Lucy has cool water to drink . . . . I have a question, just who takes care of the city water supply?

Teresa · July 06, 2009, 02:08:02 PM

obviously nobody ... ( sarcasm noted)

Kevin Mitchell is the one we are paying..

Catwoman · July 06, 2009, 03:00:27 PM

I remember the water in Elk County...When the lake would 'turn', it was absolutely ungodly hard to do anything with that water. Hmmm...I'll have to watch KAKE tonight and see if I see any of my pals in Howard...Just got through seeing most of you last weekend, but that's OK...You're all pretty enough to look at twice!

Dee Gee · July 06, 2009, 03:02:12 PM

I hope the City has / will contact the Kansas Rural Water Association (KRWA) for guidance with this problem. They are some very experienced people there. They should be able to help.

Teresa · July 06, 2009, 03:09:18 PM

They have..and it is in such a total mess that I think they are stumped.
Added more and different 'chemicals" to it .. ( as if that is what our bodies need)
You know the thing is...............If they are totally lost on what to do.. if something has been done that was a major screw up.. then say it! We are all human.. and s*^# happens. Admit it.. and say" I don't know what to do"...
Don't lie and fumble around with excuses and give people lip service.

And another thing before I put up my broom.......

Why wasn't there anything sent out to the public as in a "NOTICE"... not to use Bleach in your wash water etc etc etc...
There has been absolutely nothing but silence to the public about this problem..

LisaT · July 06, 2009, 03:11:46 PM

Down here in Moline we had a similar problem a couple of years ago and I don't know if it's the same thing Howard has going on. But here is what caused ours. The State of Ks. in their infinite wisdom decided that we needed to add ammonia to our water to help with the residue that the clorine disinfection process leaves (breath) so adding ammonia drops the pH in the water to the bottom which makes the water very acidic and it likes to eat metal. Well we all know that our little towns have mainly metal lines and thus brown or rust colored water. I know that the City of Moline spent a fortune on soda ash to offset the pH problem and it took a while to get lined out. Still to this day periodically we will have a few lines that go brown and we can't figure it out.
The people at the state told me that science is working against us as they keep getting more detailed tests and then they come up with some bright idea as to OMG how to fix it!!! Like I said I don't know if that's what Howard is having a problem with or not.