TUNICA, MS (abc24.com) — Imagine going a month without clean water. That's what hundreds of people in Tunica are dealing with right now and they're fed up. This problem affects about 700 customers of one local utility company, KWP, and as you can imagine it's causing major headaches.
“It’s going right now if you fill up your tub the water looks brown,” said a KWP customer, Michael Johnson.
"I don't like it and it’s scary,” said another customer Joann Fryson.
It's not only scary for residents but frustrating for businesses.
"We're missing a lot of money just between coffee and fountain drinks because the water is contaminated,” said a manager at Kangaroo gas station, Katie Kitchens.
Joann Fryson has to boil her water to cook, shower, and drink before using it just to be safe. The KWP Utility Company notified the Mississippi Health Department about a major problem with the chlorinator last month. That equipment helps clean the drinking water for 733 local customers.
Fryson said the water went bad a long time before she ever got a letter from KWP Utility or her landlord at the Canal Park Apartments.
"I put a notice in my envelope to tell them that we needed more information and what is going on with the water but I haven't heard a thing from them," Fryson said. "I think it’s sloppiness on the management."
She says to top it all off she still has to pay the water company for the un-chlorinated water she's been forced to use. As a diabetic and former cancer patient, the water she drinks has to be clean.
"I have low tolerance of my immune system," Fryson said.
The past few days KWP has been taking water samples and sending them to the state's lab.
"They definitely did the right thing in issuing the boil water,” said Melissa Parker, Mississippi State Health Deputy Director for the Bureau of Public Water Supply. “We are working with them to get that cleared up as quickly as possible."
If the water is clear and passes all the state’s tests the health department says people can start using their water as early as Thursday January 12, 2012. First check with your utility company to make sure the boil water alert has been lifted before drinking the water.
