Frustration builds as brown water flows in Scituate

SCITUATE, Mass. — Water officials say the water is safe to drink but that hardly seemed to satisfy residents at a meeting about the brown water in Scituate.

Town officials are acknowledging the problem, and are trying to fix it as they replace old iron pipes that combined with groundwater to turn some of the town's water brown.

"We've finished about 20 miles of that with two to go, but it's been ignored for years," Scituate Town Administrator Jim Boudreau said. "Only in the last five to 10 years, the town has decided to address this."

The years of deferred maintenance has now caused major problems, as the town also admits it cannot be fixed permanently anytime soon.

The news was not what the residents wanted to hear, each with their own stories about the water impacting their lives.

Andrew Goodrich brought his water filter showing how dirty it got after just two weeks when it's supposed to last six months.

Amber Ahearn had a similar story, as her family was forced to call their plumber back just days after putting in a water filtration system.

"He couldn't believe it," Ahearn said. "He said, 'The water is so filthy, you guys can't even make it two weeks.'"

>>RELATED: Scituate residents sick of their dirty water

A presentation on the problem didn't seem to satisfy residents, as town officials said short-term fixes are in the works.

However, it looks like the problem that's been years in the making will now take some time to repair.

"We are hoping when we get the last set of the pipes replaced, and we do some cleaning over the next year, that people see significant improvement within the next year," Boudreau said.

Cox Media Group