WESTFIELD – Some Westfield residents on the west side of the city have complained about dirty water since the summertime, when the city took it’s reservoir offline for dam and transmission line repairs, forcing residents at the end of Western Avenue onto city wells five and six.
One city resident, who chose to remain anonymous said that residents on Granville Road, Farnham Lane, and Northwest Road received paperwork in the mail saying that “there is copper in our water.”
“I can’t bathe my children in it. It smells toxic. It’s brown. It smells and it’s not going to be cleared up,” she said. “From what the Water Department sent out, not everybody got a notice but I happened to get one, and in the notice it said that it’s going to be until March before they clear up this problem.”
“It’s just not fair that we have to pay for our water and then have it smell this bad,” she said. “The fact they haven’t fixed it so that we can get back on our regular water source is just unbelievable to me.”
“I take care of kids, and I can’t bathe them in this water,” she said. “The toilet is filthy and smells like copper. We’ve had nothing but problems.”
She said that the Water Department has instructed residents being served by wells five and six to let the water run cold to clear the water, which David Billips, the superintendent of the City’s Water Resources Department, says is correct, adding that residents who believe they have copper “in their water” aren’t entirely correct.
“The copper isn’t in the water supply,” Billips said. “It is merely the water’s reaction to the copper piping.”
Billips stated that when the city’s reservoir was taken offline, wells five and six were not equipped with corrosion control, and that the water department will be sending out letters in about a week announcing that the problem is being addressed.
“We’ll be doing testing during the next three days,” he said, adding that he has spoken with Dr. Curt Robie, assistant vice president of facilities and operations at Westfield State University, about flushing out the school’s water supply before the students return from winter break.
“We haven’t gotten too many complaints,” he said. “Two or three calls, I’d say. We’ve had about a half dozen people at our Water Commission meetings.”
