Steele, Mo. residents frustrated by brown water

STEELE, Mo. (KFVS) - Some residents in Steele Missouri say they’re tired of having brown water and want their concerns to be heard.

Longtime Steele resident Lindsey Mayberry said most days it looks rusty brown.

“I don’t feel comfortable bathing in it but we have to... we’re always having to buy bottled water stuff to cook in because they say its safe to drink but I’m not drinking brown water,” Mayberry said.

Mayberry said she first noticed the problem last summer around the same time one of the two wells in the city broke.

Mayor Randy McDaniel said both wells work now, but he knows the problem’s not fixed.

The city’s currently under a boil water advisory.

“Part of the problem with the brown water is these pipes are pipes made out of galvanized metal,” McDaniel said. “The mains are made out of an iron called ‘duck tile iron’ and those pipes are as old as I am or older.”

McDaniel says he’s working with an engineer and certified water operator to get new PVC lines installed.

“That’s going to be a long process, it’s going to cost several million dollars to complete that. We don’t have that kind of money, other little towns don’t either. But we may have to vote on a bond issue we may have to find sources where we can borrow money,” he said.

“It really kind of makes you want to move because there’s really not much that they’re trying to do,” Mayberry said.

“We’re working, we really are,” McDaniel said.

McDaniel asks residents to be patient as the city finds a solution.

McDaniel hopes to end the boil water advisory next week, but it depends on the water sample results they receive from the Pemiscot County Health Department.

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