Pecan Grove residents share concerns about taste and smell of water

RICHMOND – A community in Fort Bend County says they have concerns about the taste and smell of the water.

“It’s not normal. We’ve lived here for 17 years, and we have never had the smell, the taste and skin issues that we are having now,” Tamara Lipani said.

Residents in the Pecan Grove community told KPRC 2 the problem started on Friday.

Todd and Tamara Lipani invited KPRC 2′s Re’Chelle Turner into their home to talk about their experience. They can see and taste a difference in their water.

“Some people have reported the issues with their water. Various people have been told their hot water heater is the problem,” Tamara Lipani said.

Compliant after compliant.

“Another person called three times and finally made a complaint with the office. They came out and flushed the hydrants, but the smell was still present,” Tamara Lipani said.

Tamara Lipani shares some of the post she read on Facebook about the water in the Pecan Grove community. She made a report online Wednesday morning.

“They sent someone to my door, saying they were going to flush the lines. Before they did that, I came in and took a sample,” she said.

The MUD posted online, saying they collected samples and it meets both the TCEQ and EPA drinking water standards. The Lipani’s took a sip of the water.

“Tastes like a hose,” Todd Lipani said.

…and smelled the water.

“It smells very plastic and chemically, like concentrated water through a hose,” Tamara said.

Her husband Todd believes the water caused him to develop a skin rash.

“On Monday, after I took a shower, an hour later, my body started breaking out in hives. Here, here, groin, I mean 20% of my body, itching, but burning, itching. Not just burning like, you know, you get a blaze of ivy. The skin was like on fire, itching. And it was just spreading all over my body. And then, after 3-4 hours, we went to ER, 11 and 12, spent 2 hours there,” he said.

Tamara says her family is not using the water until they have a better understanding of what is going on.

“I think today they’ve started taking it a little bit more seriously, since they’ve seen we’re compiling all this information and more of the community is kind of garnering together and saying, ‘hey there’s a problem here.’ That’s great that you think it’s okay. Come drink the water, come bathe in our house. They did send more operators out. We’ll see what their test will find,” Lipani said.

The MUD also shared that they sent additional samples to a third-party lab. The Lipani’s are looking into a water filtration system.