Water Woes

Dawn Checrallah began to notice it three years ago: an orange slime that quickly built up from the water coming into her Riverside home, along with a persistent metallic taste and rotten egg smell.

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She has lived in her house for the past two decades and previously had no problem with the water - provided by the city of East Providence and ultimately piped in from The Scituate Reservoir.

 

About the same time, Ron Vento detected sawdust-like particles showing up in the water at his home in Johnston - where The Providence Water Supply Board in 2021 took over responsibility from the town of Johnston for providing water and maintaining the lines.

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Checrallah and Vento say they have waged a losing battle to get their water problems fixed and not have to worry about something that many people take for granted.

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Checrallah says she spends more than $800 a year for water she can’t drink and that has ruined several appliances in her house. Vento, who shells out $1,200 a year, installed a whole house filter that has to be changed every month or two, or the sediment builds up and slows his water to a trickle. 

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The city of East Providence and the Providence Water Supply Board told Checrallah and Vento they have done everything they can and the water they are supplying meets Rhode Island Department of Health standards.

The homeowners say they can do more.

“It’s been years and it’s so frustrating,” said Checrallah, adding that she contacted The Hummel Report as a last resort, not a first option, after years of trying to find a solution. “I’ve had everyone I possibly can involved: the mayor, council, senators. The water comes out clear, but it turns orange when it sits. So my kitchen sink right now, it’s orange. My toilet is all slimy. I don’t think we’re supposed to have sand in our drinking water.”

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One of the early answers the city gave her: clean more, which she found insulting.

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Checrallah has documented the issue with pictures: they include glasses of water from her tap that turn cloudy in a matter of hours, and a whole house filter she installed that transforms from a bright white to orange,  and has to be changed frequently. 

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“Taking a shower is disgusting,” Checrallah said. “It’s slimy. I feel like my hair is greasy when I wash it,” adding that she is fortunate her father lives nearby and she can shower occasionally at his house. In addition to the whole house filter, she has additional filters in the refrigerator and shower.

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The city ran tests on her water for iron, manganese, color and turbidity and said it was fine. 

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“We sympathize with her concerns, but there’s nothing wrong with the water being furnished to her house,” said Jim Marvel, the superintendent of the city’s Water Department. “At the end of the day it’s all about what’s in the water coming into the home that the city provides. We’ve taken tests on it and they’ve all been perfect.”

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Marvel said the city has sent inspectors out on two occasions since 2022 to test the water and check for leaks in the pipes in the street near her house.

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Checrallah said she replaced her white porcelain kitchen sink with stainless steel because it was permanently stained; and purchased a new garbage disposal and a new toilet. She said she needs a new bathroom tub, but won’t replace it until the water issue is resolved. She cleans her kitchen sink multiple times a day with a paper towel that becomes covered with the orange slime.

Vento moved to his house off Bishop Hill Road on the western end of Johnston in 2002 when the town managed the water supply. He said his problems began in 2022 when he noticed something in his water. “It looks like sawdust, like dirt is in the line,” he said.

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He called Providence Water several times, then began documenting his contact by sending emails. The agency, which had taken over the system from Johnston the year before, changed the meter twice and tested the water. It came back with calcium and phosphorus, which the agency says it adds for corrosion control and to help minimize metals from being released into the water from customers’ plumbing, according to a spokesman.

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 Vento said a plow hit the fire hydrant on the edge of his property several winters ago, but  Providence Water did not think that was causing his problems. 

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Vento isn’t so sure, as the collision knocked the hydrant to an angle and created a hole next to it that he can step into.  The sediment problems continued,  prompting him to install a filter between the water meter and his house. “I’ve got a granddaughter, I don’t want her taking a shower at my house,” he said. “If I don’t change my (filter) screens, in my shower and everything else, at least once a week, the water will be dripping out,” because the filters get clogged with sediment, he said. “It’s insane.”

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Vento, who is an electrician, recalls a conversation he had with a representative of Providence Water:  “It’s showing nothing in the meter, so we think it’s coming from your boiler,’” Vento said they told him. “I said ‘Listen to me, I’m not a plumber, I’m an electrician. The last time I checked water doesn’t flow backward.’”

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Providence Water recommended he contact the manufacturer of his heating system “who may be able to provide guidance for minimizing sediment accumulations after the water is heated,” a spokesman wrote to the Hummel Report.

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“I’m not feeding your water system with water from my house,” Vento said. “As soon as the water passes through their meter it goes directly into my filter. The filter has nothing to do with hot water.

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“I know my sinks shouldn’t be getting all clogged. My washing machine - I’m going through my second washing machine and dyer. It’s running through my heating system, it’s going to ruin everything.”

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His house was built in 1989 so Vento says the line to his house should be fine. “Do I start digging up my yard? I don’t know what to do. If I dig up my yard, put a brand new PVC line in and I still get it, I’ve just wasted $10,000 and I’m still in the same predicament.”

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Providence Water suggested he file a claim, but Vento said he doesn’t want a one-time monetary settlement - he wants a solution. His last conversation with a woman at the agency late last year ended abruptly. “They gave up. She said there’s nothing more I can do. I said: ‘Do I have to call the news?’ She said, ‘Do what you got to do.’ They washed their hands of it.”

Back in Riverside, Neal Boyce is a friend of Checrallah’s father and worked in the city’s water department during his 31 years as a Department of Public Works employee. Boyce retired nine years ago and says the water lines in the neighborhood go back to the 1940s.

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“There’s definitely a problem, it’s not Dawn’s imagination,” Boyce said. “I think they know they have a problem over there and they don’t want to spend the money to fix it. I think they’re afraid that they’re going to have to replace that entire line. And it’s a lot of money, but she’s a taxpayer, she deserves to have water she can use.”

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Marvel takes issue with that assessment. He said in a wide-ranging interview with The Hummel Report that one of his employees checked for leaks using sound detection equipment from the street and heard nothing.

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When we asked about the sand making its way into Checrallah’s house, Marvel responded: “I’m not even going down that road. One of the things we tested for was turbidity. And turbidity is the measurement of suspended particles in the water. And our turbidity was non-detectable, which means there’s no suspended particles in the water, meaning there’s no sand in the water.”

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Marvel also said no one else in the neighborhood has complained. Boyce said there is a neighbor who has also had the metallic taste and rotten egg smell, but is hesitant to file a complaint because he's had some code issues with the city.

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Boyce said the city should dig up the street at the “corporation stop” - the industry term for the intersection of the city’s pipe and the one going into Checrallah’s pipe leading to her house. Multiple plumbers she’s hired agree - and Marvel concurs - that the copper pipe feeding the city water to her house is fine and does not need replacing.

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Marvel’s response to digging, which he said would cost several thousand dollars: “It’s not a money thing, but it’s a common sense thing. We’re not going to dig up a perfectly good street when there’s no indication that there’s anything wrong.”

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Checrallah remains unconvinced, and is still looking for a solution. “They will never admit it, but they know this is an issue.”

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The Hummel Report is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that relies, in part, on donations. For more information, go to HummelReport.org. Reach Jim at Jim@HummelReport.org.