EDWARDS, Miss. (WLBT) – Residents packed the Edwards Town Hall Tuesday night to share complaints about the water system.

Those who spoke with town leaders say the water has a terrible smell and is often discolored. Residents say it is not fit or safe to drink, and this has been a problem for about a year.

The certified water operator for Edwards, K.T. Newman, says this is a new system, the first in the state and the first of its kind.

He emphasized that the city is working through many of the issues.

Resident Monica Brown described the water quality issues.

“Sometimes it comes out like rust. It’s grey, sometimes it’s brown, sometimes it even has little rocks, black rocks in it, and it smells like boiled eggs. It’s ridiculous,” she said.

Newman said pressure loss in the filters causes many of the problems. He said one day, a man hit a fire hydrant, causing the town to lose all of its water

“Most of those reasons come from pressure loss in the filters if there’s a disruption in the system. A couple of days ago, a gentleman hit a fire hydrant, and we lost all the water in the town. Well, the filters depressurized, and all the water turned black. Unfortunately, the only way to clear that was to run it through the system with additional flushing,” Newman said.

Newman says residents with water problems should contact City Hall with their concerns to make sure officials are aware of issues.

The system has been in place for six or seven months, and tests are underway to resolve all the concerns and give customers the product they promised.

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