Residents in Beaver, Butler counties turn to bottled water amid ongoing taste and odor concerns

People in Beaver and Butler counties say they have had to switch to buying bottled water after weeks of drinking and cleaning with unpleasant water. 

Communities connected to the Beaver Falls Municipal Authority say they noticed an odd odor and taste to their water weeks ago. The BFMA says the water is safe, that they are aware of the issue, and that they have started a complete flush of the system. 

Beaver Falls Municipal Authority gets its water from the river and then treats it, but in doing so, an organic compound with no health risks got into the water.

For residents in Zelienople who have BFMA water, they have noticed barely any changes since it was announced two weeks ago by the borough that there was a fix coming. The Zelienople Borough posted to social media that they were working with the authority through the process.

"We used to have pristine drinking water in this town, and lately, it's gone haywire," said Zelienople resident Jack McMichael.

"It got to the point where it was intolerable, and in fact, we would filter the water in the fridge, pour it into a Brita pitcher to filter it again, and it still wasn't good," said resident Dan Banyay. "It's sort of a dirty smell and taste. It's not chemical, it's not like sulfur or anything like that, but it's just a dirty taste and odor to it."

Others in Zelienople and different communities around the counties have described a variety in the odor.

"I noticed it about a month ago, really, I thought it was just me, it had an aftertaste like Clorox," said McMichael.

But after testing, it seems there's finally an explanation for what's causing it. 

Beaver Falls Municipal Authority also released the following statement.

"We are aware of the system-wide taste and odor concerns. In conjunction with the DEP, we have determined this is likely caused by Geosmin, a naturally occurring, unregulated organic compound. While unpleasant, it is not associated with any health risks. All recent sampling is within federal standards, and we're conducting additional sampling at this time. We've started our system-wide maintenance (called "burnout") and have begun our system-wide flushing. This process will mitigate the previous taste/odor concerns and provide complete turnover of the water in the system."

The authority also says that a full flush could take six weeks. More information on the flushing updates can be found here.