‘I started to cry': Bridgewater residents deal with brown water during holiday

It is not the sight Kathleen Wasik was hoping would greet her when she turned on the bathroom sink on Wednesday morning.

“I went to brush my teeth and the water was brown,” Wasik said. “And then I started to cry.”

That is because the Bridgewater resident of nearly 50 years knew she would be hosting family for Thanksgiving just 24 hours later.

While the timing could not be worse, Wasik said it was nothing new. The brown water often forces her and her husband to rely on bottled water for basic daily activities.

On Thanksgiving, the headache motivated her to contact NBC10 for help.

“I just want to turn on my tap water and be able to brush my teeth, be able to wash my clothes, be able to water my garden,” Wasik said. “We pay for the water. If we pay for it, why can’t we use it?”

Kelly Meehan experienced the same holiday stress this week, thanks to the murky water dilemma.

“It drives me to a full-on rage some days if I’m being quite honest with you,” Meehan said.

“You’re trying to brine your turkey. You’re trying to do the potatoes and you have pitch black water.”

Meehan showed us how she puts a filter on the washing machine to avoid damaging lighter-colored clothing. She took a video to show how quickly a new filter turned from white to dark brown during a recent cycle.

However, it was her daughter’s health that motivated Meehan to start speaking up and demanding a change. The mother decided to get her water tested by a local company. When the results came back, they revealed levels of iron and manganese much higher than the recommended range, according to the report she shared.

“This is not only a discolored water situation,” Meehan said. “This is an emergency.”

That is why Meehan decided to form a Facebook group called, “Bridgewater Unfiltered—Citizens for Clean Municipal Water.” Residents post photos and videos of white clothes ruined, toilets that look like they’ve been used, and kids’ bath toys floating in a sea of dark water.

Bridgewater Town Hall was closed on Friday and NBC10 did not hear back from the town manager, Justin Casanova-Davis.

But during a meeting on November 18, Casanova-Davis told the Town Council that they are exploring solutions with the wells on that side of town, which are turned on when enough water supply is needed in situations like a fire emergency.

One long-term possibility is installing filtration equipment on the wells and sending the water supply to the town’s treatment plant. That project could take two years, town officials said.

Another short-term option is accessing water from a neighboring community.

“This is a priority,” Casanova-Davis said at the meeting. “We are trying to expedite things. We are trying to do this as fast as possible, but also realizing that these water infrastructure issues didn’t develop overnight. It was years. And they will not be solved overnight either.”

A spokesperson with the Department of Environmental Protection told NBC10 the agency is aware of the water issues in Bridgewater and is working with town leaders to find a solution.

The topic will be up for discussion during the Town Council meeting on Tuesday.

With something as essential as clean public water, residents wonder why there has not been more urgency to address the situation.

“I know that it’s complicated, but fix it. Do something!” Wasik said.