Bell Island residents bothered by water that's blackening their bathtubs
Residents on Bell Island are upset about the intermittent availability of clean, running water from their taps, but the Wabana mayor says the problem has been dealt with.
"When you run the water in the tub, and you let it out... you could write your name in it."
Blackwood said there's a station on the island where people can fill up jugs with clean water, but she said it's not an ideal solution for her.
"I'm pregnant, so going around and lugging around jugs of water is not really convenient for me," Blackwood said.
"We have two small kids, so it's in the middle of the winter, taking them out to other people's houses to give them a bath, and then taking them back out into the cold.... And then having to lug around your dirty clothes and get someone else to, you know, use their washer. It's just not acceptable."
Blackwood said the brown water problem has been off and on over the last two months.
She said she has spoken to Wabana Mayor Gary Gosine several times about the issue.
When you run the water in the tub, and you let it out... you could write your name in it.- Brittany Blackwood, Bell Island resident
"The only thing they're telling me is that they're flushing out the [pipes], but it's not helping. It's not giving me clean water," Blackwood said.
"They're only telling me that I basically have to wait for everything to clean up, but it's not good enough when I'm trying to wash clothes [or] get a shower."
Blackwood said she's frustrated.
"I would like to see... something be done about it, rather than just flushing out the pipes, because clearly that isn't giving me clean water."
Mayor's response
Gary Gosine, the mayor of Wabana on Bell Island, said the complaints are coming from isolated cases, and the issue has been dealt with.
"We have addressed the problem, it's not like we just haven't done anything about it," he told the St. John's Morning Show on Monday.
He said the town had a leak in its water system last week, which has since been fixed.
The town is in the middle of upgrading the system and Gosine said the $5 million project is getting close to completion.
He said the town heard the complaints from residents, but as of right now there are only two households they are aware of that have dirty water.
He believes that aging infrastructure may have contributed to the muddy water.
"It's just like any other town, you've got a lot of dilapidated and antiquated pipes, and I feel that's what the problem is," he said.
Gosine said the town plans to look into the two cases on Monday.
"We're going to call an engineer now this morning," he said.
Resident says water is like mud
Edward Mercer, who also lives on Bell Island, said every other day for the past few months, his tap water has been like mud.
"It's pure brown. It's almost impossible to get a wash, or to wash any clothes in it," he said.
"It's just brown, murky water... If you fill the tub up, and you drain the tub, you're left with sediments of dirt in the tub."
Mercer said when it's bad, he tries to go to someone else's house to use their water.
He said the residents of Bell Island would like to see the issue resolved.