Water discoloration in Junction City costing homeowners hundreds of dollars - KEZI TV

Water discoloration in Junction City costing homeowners hundreds of dollars | News | kezi.com
Many people have turned on their faucets to see brown water running daily.

JUNCTION CITY, Ore. – Water concerns in Junction City are still ongoing, with residents saying they are running their sinks and bathtubs only to find the water running brown on a day-to-day basis.

Junction City resident Rebecca Benneworth said there have water discoloration issues for years at her home, but she noticed it the situation worsen following January’s ice storm.

“It’s constantly running brown,” Benneworth said. “Trying to run baths for the kids, you can’t do it.”

Benneworth said she had to flush out her washer with gallons of clean water after discovering sediment build up had tarnished the water.

“We ended up digging it [the washer] apart and there was actually so much build up, and just rusty-looking materials,” Benneworth said. “It just smelled horrible, and we had to flush it out with gallons of water. It was just murky dark brown.”

Junction City resident Rebeca Benneworth showed KEZI the condition of her home's water supply through the washer.

Across town, mother and daughter Shyloh Lawson said she has been experiencing yellow, murky water almost every day, and it has had a multitude of consequences, including spending hundreds of dollars of clean, bottled water.

“I have 10 kids, and we go through at least three of the five-gallon water bottles every two weeks,” Lawson said.

Lawson also said she and her family still take showers and wash their clothes in the water because there’s only so much clean water they can afford, but that takes a toll on the clothes and the fixtures. She said a lot of clothes often come out with stains, and the fixtures tend to corrode within months due to hard water.

“I’m constantly scrubbing the sinks and stuff so it doesn’t stick on,” Lawson said. “Our humidifiers, we have for when we’re sick, filling those with the water we have is horrible. We have to buy two or three a year during the time just because of the hard water.”

Lawson’s mother Dawn Shively said the same thing, and said the water quality issue has forced them to replace several fixtures, adding costs on top of their already costly water bill.

People in Junction City have had to replace fixtures due to hard water damage.

“We’ve gone through showerheads over the years. I can’t tell you how many we’ve bought,” Shively said. “We just put in a new one and it’s been six months and we’ve already seen the corrosion… I’ve never lived in a home where you have to do that every year other than here.”

“There’s a lot of products that we have to purchase extra, whether it’s lotions or shampoos, or waters, or filter systems, or appliances that just corrode,” Lawson said. “It is quite the expense amongst the chemicals that go into taking the hard water off of things.”

While Lawson and Shively said they have learned to live and adapt, and they don’t know the solutions to the problem, but they do have some ideas for how the city could help out people around town.

“It feels so unfair because we don’t get compensation for the filter systems, nor the water bottles, but our budget keeps going up,” Shively said. “At least reduce our monthly bills or compensate for what we have to purchase extra just alongside the bill.”

Many people like Benneworth also do not want to accept the water situation as normal.

“I would love the city to recognize what they have done and what they are putting us through,” Benneworth said. “I would like them to take accountability for the dirty water situation that we’re having to deal with.”

Many people in Junction City have complained of brown water following a lack of production.

According to officials with Junction City Public Works, crews have been working on inspecting and repairing the water wells within the city, as well as working on adding two new wells. They said the reason many people in Junction City may be dealing with discolored water is because the city has not been able to flush the system due to a lack of production. According to officials, one of the water wells that has been having work done has been rehabilitated, and they are looking at dates to flush the system early next week.

“You don’t realize how much you need stuff or how much it’s worth to you until you don’t have it,” Lawson said.

In the meantime, officials with Junction City Public Works encourage people to reach out and let them know if they are dealing with dirty water at home.