“I need some help getting my water situation resolved because its been going on too long,” Harper said.
By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
Parsons resident Shannon Harper related a long running series of water issues to the Parsons City Council November 19th. Among the problems Harper stated were years of discoloration that left her toilet and shower stained, as well as her clothes and her water unusable for drinking. “I’m coming before you today because my water is disgusting,” Harper said.
Harper said her water is consistently brown and stains everything brown and has stained such items as her toilet, shower and even items of clothing. “Its brown all the time,” Harper said. “It has stained my shower. It has stained my toilet. It stains my clothes.”
According to Harper, all the pipes in her home have been replaced and updated. “My dad redid all the pipes in the house,” Harper said.
Harper said that the City had updated the pipes leading to her home, as well. “The pipes were supposed to be redone in the City,” Harper said. “Dylan checked, it is plastic piping coming into the house.”
Harper brought photographs of what happens to her toilet within a day of cleaning. The photos showed that within a day, the bowl goes from clean to covered in a dark brown haze, according to Harper. Other photographs brought by Harper showed the exposed tank of her toilet with excessive staining. Harper also brought photographs of her shower, as well to illustrate the staining. “This is within a day,” Harper said. “My toilet will go from clean to that within a day.”
Harper said she grew up on well water and was used to hard water. “I grew up in Moore, I grew up on well water,” Harper said. “This is pretty gross. I can’t even boil this. I can’t even use this.”
Harper said she was just requesting help as she had been dealing with the situation for too long. “I need some help getting my water situation resolved because its been going on too long,” Harper said.
According to Harper, she first brought the situation to the City’s attention over six years ago and had been regularly speaking with different people within the City about it since with little to no result. “I brought this to the City’s attention over six years ago and have repeatedly came in and talked to different people and told the lines were going to be flushed once a month, doesn’t happen,” Harper said.
Harper said that her hydrant was flushed for two hours to clear the line. When asked by the council how long her water remained clear following the flushing, Harper said it only remained clear for four days. City Council Member Sam Humphrey said that the hydrants had only been flushed twice a year previously, but were currently on a schedule to be flushed quarterly. “Dylan flushed the line recently for two hours just to clear the water and that was what a month ago,” Harper said. “He had to run mine for two hours. He couldn’t believe it was still running that long to clear it out.”
Harper said she had spoken with neighbors surrounding her and she is not the only one in her area affected. Harper said she decided to bring it to the Council’s attention following coverage of the issues in Thomas during the drought. “I’m not the only one,” Harper said. “I don’t know if I am the only one bringing it, but when I saw the Thomas issue in the paper, I said, hey I need to go address this because Parsons has brown water, too.”
The Council said they would refer the issue to the appropriate committees to get resolved and promised Harper that something would be done to resolve the issue.