Macon Water Authority mum on dirt-tasting water

More Macon residents are reporting dirt-tasting tap water online, but questions directed to the Macon Water Authority’s leadership about it so far have been met with silence.

MWA CEO Ron Shipman and elected board chair Gary Bechtel did not respond to questions about what MWA is doing to identify the source of the dirt-taste. Shipman also did not respond to a request The Melody made in writing last week for testing data from the initial six formal complainants.

The possible cause of the dirt-taste or what MWA is doing to trace the source of it remain a mystery.
MWA secretary Jannette Ramey said Shipman is out of town and unavailable.

Reports are widespread and range from downtown, south of Wesleyan, Vineville, Ingleside, South Macon near the mall and Presidential Parkway.

“Several, several people have called me and said that their water didn’t taste right,” MWA board member Elaine Lucas said. “Those issues have been made known to the staff at the water authority, to Ron Shipman and Gary Bechtel, and I am just shocked and surprised and disappointed that there hasn’t been been more information shared or more information that’s come out to the public as to what the procedure should be when you have foul tasting water. As a board members we need to know what we should tell our constituents when they call us.”

Lucas said she, too, has noticed a foul taste to the tap water at her house in recent weeks.

Some have speculated the foul tasting water could be related to fire hydrant flushing.

In a phone call from Ohio, Macon-Bibb Deputy Fire Chief Michael Williamson said the hydrants are owned by MWA but the fire department maintains them.

“Pretty much the only time we flush hydrants is when people are out there doing maintenance,” Williamson said. “They’ll flush it just to make sure they’re running.”

The maintenance is regularly scheduled and the flushes done by the fire department are usually short-lived and twice each year, he said.

“Flushing for long periods of time and stuff, that goes through water authority,” Williamson said. “As for the funny tasting water, that’s another question you’d have to ask them.”

The fire department is required to notify MWA any time it flushes hydrants. Williamson said MWA has a list of hydrants it flushes and plans to flush, “but they don’t put the list out to the public. They let us know and their groundcrews know.”