McGregor Reserve neighborhood still waiting for clean water

Published: Updated:
Credit: Colleen McCune

A dirty situation isn’t getting any better for people living in and near McGregor Reserve in Fort Myers.

The neighborhood has been dealing with water quality issues for months and residents hope the city takes action soon.

“It’s nasty. It’s gross,” said Colleen McCune, who lives near McGregor Reserve.

“It is really dark in the morning. and then it’s like a faint yellow by afternoon,” McCune said of her water.

The City of Fort Myers on Wednesday sent notices alerting people living in the area that it would be performing water main and hydrant flushing to hopefully get rid of the high iron and sediment levels.

The flushing was supposed to run through Saturday night.

“It hasn’t stopped,” McCune said.

WINK News spotted at least seven hydrants still releasing water on Monday.

“You don’t know if it’s safe,” McCune said.

Now that some of the water has dried up, the HOA president has noticed the streets are littered with rust stains and lumps of sediment.

McCune said it hasn’t made any difference in her water. “We’re definitely not drinking it. It’s bottled water or filtered out of the refrigerator line.”

At a recent meeting, City Manager Saeed Kazemi said they’re searching for the exact location of the problem so they can fix it. They said they did the flushing in order to clean the entire water distribution piping system. The city said Monday afternoon that the outcome of the flushing has been positive, with “initial results indicating a decline in sediment levels.”

The city said it will continue to monitor the water quality with daily sampling and evaluation.

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