There's something in the water in River Oaks – and it's not pretty. Over the past few weeks, water in the suburb west of Fort Worth has been coming out of the tap with a brown tint and a bad smell.
The city says the problem is in the pipes, where pressure changes knock rust and other material loose. They have a plan to fix it, but they can't start work until November.
"Filled the sink up, it came out brown," said River Oaks resident Shandra George. "It's not fair to us that we have to be subjected to drinking something like that."
A visit to the city's water tower showed it's not what's coming out of the filtration system.
"You can see from there it's perfectly clear that's going into the system," said City Administrator Marvin Gregory, holding up a bottle of clear water.
He says the problem comes when water flows through the city's old, rusty pipes.
"They're 65, 70 years old. You're beautiful now. If you were 70 years old, you would be rusty too!" said Carl Crawford, an operator with the River Oaks Water Department.
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A new $8 million loan from the Texas Water Development Fund will let the city replace more than nine miles of water lines.
But that work can't even begin until November and will likely take three years. In the meantime, city leaders say the water is safe.
"Brown water is not something you'd like," Gregory said. "It's perfectly safe, but nobody wants to drink dirty water either."
The water was running clear at George's house on Wednesday. But she isn't taking any chances.
"It still has a little bit of a smell, and I'm not going to trust the water until they actually change everything," George said.
That means months more of smelly clothes.
"We're pretty much washing it in mud water," George said.
And the frustrations will continue.
"Go to some of these houses and drink their water," George challenged city leaders. "You wouldn't do it."
George says she really got worried when her cats started throwing up. She says it stopped as soon as she started giving them bottled water.
The city has been shocking the system with chlorine, and they say they are now in full compliance with all state environmental regulations. If the water does turn brown again, the city says, despite how it looks, it won't hurt you.
