WILSON COUNTY, Texas – Shady Oaks is a small neighborhood in the Floresville area of Wilson County, spanning several blocks.
Residents get their water from a water well owned by a private company called Central States Water Resources (CSWR). More specifically, it’s the Texas division of the company called CSWR Texas.
The company has nothing to do with the City of Floresville’s water system.
Shady Oaks is now the second neighborhood in the area complaining about CSWR water quality.
Last week, KSAT went to the Arrowhead subdivision, where the water was brown or highly chlorinated. In October, it even tested positive for E. coli. After that story aired, messages flowed in from people in the Shady Oaks community.
“He’s 90, and I’ve got a birthday soon,” said Shirley Mays who lives in Shady Oaks with her husband Calvin, a disabled veteran.
Mays and Calvin lived in their Shady Oaks home for 25 years, but it’s been the last couple of years that they’ve had the biggest water issues.
Mays said the water is sometimes “kind of creamy looking” and other times smells like chlorine.
There are yellow stains left behind on her toilets and sinks, very similar to the situation in the Arrowhead subdivision.
Yet Shady Oaks residents have a slightly different situation. They were under a boil water notice for almost a month.
“I boil this pot pretty much every day, and there’s always a foam. Today there’s a light foam. There’s always something or a big white ring. I know that could be hard water, but it’s usually a slimy foam,” said Barbara Delgado, who lives in Shady Oaks.
Showing her pot with the foam on top of the water, Delgado said she wouldn’t drink the boiled water.
“Now it’s just to wash dishes,” she said.
What’s more consistently boiling is her frustration with CSWR.
“I have emailed them, I have called them with no response. At all. I call the receptionist, who puts me on hold and says someone will call me back. They never call back. I haven’t had one call,” she said.
When KSAT visited, Delgado scrolled through her phone showing the original notice.
“Oct. 8 was the first one,” she said.
However, Delgado said the daily updates didn’t start until two weeks ago, reading the same message she’s been getting every day for two weeks.
“The recent precautionary boil water advisory is still in effect. You will be notified when a lift is issued. The type of advisory is unplanned service outage with boil water advisory,” she read.
Delgado’s concern is for those who haven’t been getting those daily updates.
“We do have elderly people out here. They’ve been established here for years and years. They don’t have email. They don’t have text,” Delgado said.
Shirley has a phone but hasn’t received any texts about boiling water. They only got the one original notice hand-delivered on paper.
“I’m not going to drink water out of the water pipes,” Calvin said.
Shirley doesn’t even bother boiling water. She only uses bottled water to drink, cook, or brush her teeth.
“We go through one case a day I think, or almost one. Every time we go to town just about one or two cases of water,” Shirley said.
They do get help, but often, 90-year-old Calvin takes the burden.
“I can put it on my cart, push it out there,” Calvin said.
After this daily struggle, the assumption is that the community would be happy or relieved about the news that came right when KSAT was visiting.
“It just came through that it’s been lifted,” Delgado said, pointing to the text on her phone.
But that information didn’t seem to change much.
“I’m still not comfortable drinking the water. There was still a foam on it today,” Delgado said.
Delgado said it would be different if she was aware of what had been happening the whole time.
“That would make a big difference for me. What the problem was, what resolution there is, any testing that’s been done,” she said.
On top of the text, there was a sign on the corner of one of the streets saying the boil water notice had been lifted.
“It’s the size of a garage sale sign,” Delgado said.
Regardless, it seems those words aren’t the ones neighbors care to see.
“We gotta have good water,” Shirley said.
“I’ve seen it a couple of times, a water truck coming and leaving the area, so we’re not sure if they’re taking the water or bringing the water,” Delgado said.
They’re waiting for an explanation from CSWR, and so is KSAT.
While CSWR responded quickly last week to KSAT’s first request for comment on the Arrowhead subdivision problems, they have not written back about the Shady Oaks issues.
Last week, CSWR said the well in Arrowhead was working efficiently, but the company is looking into automatic flushers.
The entire press release is in last week’s full story on the Arrowhead subdivision.
A member of that community filed a complaint with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. She also has filed complaints with Texas Senator Judith Zaffrini’s office and the Texas Attorney General’s office.