July 10, 2006
Ellaville--The city of Ellaville is working to clean up its water. Many people say their water supply has been nearly unusable for several weeks. It's better tonight.
Desse Powers is glad to see his water finally looking better. "It was good to wake up this morning and see clear water," says Powers.
Before today, many Ellaville residents came home to rust-colored water that stained their tubs and sinks and made taking showers nearly impossible.
"You'd look down in the tub and you're like, wow, is all this dirt coming off me?" says Powers. He believes the city is handling the problem the best it can.
"I feel that the city is working diligently to get this matter under control," says Powers.
Nearby neighbors disagree. "See, it's not that clear," demonstrates Robin Strangeway. She says the water looks a lot better than before, but she still doesn't want to use it.
"I don't want my animals drinking it. I don't want to use it for cooking or making ice tea," says Powers. She believes the city needs to do more to fix the problem, so the water is completely clear.
"We're doing everything as fast as humanly possible," says city clerk Debbie Pilcher. She blames old pipes for the dirty water.
"They had a two inch iron pipe, and the pipe had corroded over the years," says Pilcher.
Earlier this morning, city work crews were busy digging up dirt in order to remove an old rusted water line. They then plan to replace it with a three-quarter inch pipe to alleviate the bad water supply.
"It takes a little while to locate the pipe, to get the pipe in to replace it, and the valves and the meter taps that we needed," says Pilcher.
"It's been a real burden to clean everything, that's what the burden is. Then you don't have clean clothes," says Lucky Shewmake. He lives on Ebenezer Road and is still without clear water.
"It's still not up to where it should be," he says. The water in his toilet bowl is not urine, but actually yellow water.
"This has been going on for over three weeks now," he says.
Pilcher promises Shewmake and others the water will get better, but until then:
"Just be patient," she says.
The Environmental Protect Division tested the water in several homes and says it poses no health threat.
Feedback: news@walb.com?Subject=EllavilleWaterUpdate
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 Worldnow and WALB, a Raycom Media Station. 
