FORT MYERS, FLA — Dark, sometimes urine colored water is flowing freely out of pipes and faucets in the Fort Myers community of Mcgregor Reserve.
Just a few weeks ago, Fox 4 spoke with several residents who are fed up with the water problem.
"You can't cook with it, I don't want to bathe with it, I don't want to drink it, I don't want to give it to my dog, because what's the health ramifications?" said Steve Greenfeld.
Since then, the city says it may be closer to a fix. Councilman Fred Burson says they have recently figured out that the problem is a bad pipe outside of the community. The pipe is now leaching iron into the water.
"We're scoping out the individual lines leading into Mcgregor Reserve to find out where we have this bad line so that we can basically go in and correct it," Burson said.
Until they find that bad pipe, the city will be be installing water filters in some homes and reducing water bills for the people, who still have to use this water.
"The city manager has offered to refund all the residents in Mcgregor Reserve a portion of their utility bill since they have to run extra water to get it to clear before they bathe or drink it."
Councilman Burson says he wants to get the problem fixed as soon as possible to avoid any serious health consequences.
"We don't need people coming to us with health problems as a result of iron in our water," he said.
But he also acknowledges that this is a problem the city could see more of as it and it's pipes, which are at least 20 years old, continue to age.
"We're gonna continue to have problems as the city ages and expands out to new areas."
Fox 4 has also requested a full log of the work that the city has done to fix this issue. We are waiting for that record to be provided to us.
