A local town is having issues with its water supply, but it’s more than the smell that has them upset. 

 

“There’s discoloration,” said Patton, Cambria County resident Joanne Joesel. “There’s the smell. It smells like rotten eggs. It smells like sulfur.”

 

“I just couldn’t stand taking a shower,” said resident Tina Warfield. “You took a shower, you stunk.”

 

That’s the least of their problems.

 

“If you can get it passed your nose, it’s not really that bad,” Joesel said, “but there are some days that you cannot drink it.”

 

Joesel said she first noticed the problem six months ago. Now, she doesn’t even bother with tap water anymore. She believes she can taste chlorine and methane in the water.  She said that what the cloudy bubbles in her glass are.

 

“I had to spend over $1,200 to clean it,” Warfield said. “I mean, it took me two water filters and a water softener ’cause the water’s hard.”

 

The Department of Environmental Protection told Patton residents the water is safe to drink, but many have switched to bottled water instead. 

 

“I would say about 75 percent of this town is the elderly,” Joesel said. “And they just don’t have the income to buy bottled water constantly.”

 

Joesel said the water has stained a lot of things in her home: her toilet, shower curtain, and just about anything that goes in her washing machine. 

 

“There’s more and more outbreaks of people getting sick,” she said. “Eye infections, skin infections, there’s been an outbreak of rashes.”

 

The alkalinity is also an issue. It can cause the old copper pipes in town to corrode, polluting the water with copper and lead.

 

“We need safe, quality water,” Joesel said.  She said she thinks it has something to do with the town’s well system that sat around unused for at least ten years. 

 

The town is meeting for the second time Thursday evening to speak with DEP representatives. Joesel said she hopes they can fix the problem fast.