Bathing and drinking worm-infested tap water sounds like something straight out of a third-world country right? Wrong. It's happening right here in the good ol' United States of America too.
Recently, Old River Winfree, a town just 25 miles outside of Houston, TX, neighbors complained of finding different color worms in the their bathroom and kitchen sinks running water.
But how did they get there?
"There's these red ones, there's these black ones, almost look like tad poles," said Andrea Devault. "Which is the grossest?" asked KHOU 11 News Reporter Alice Barr. Devault answered, "All of them. I do not like bugs in my water."
It's been going on for a couple of days now. The private company, J&S Water, says it did have a power outage this weekend and some equipment broke, so it flushed the system and on Tuesday asked folks to start boiling their water.
But the company says it's tested the water multiple times with the state environmental agency and found no sign of worms. They're blaming some other source, like the pipes.
"For the record, we have replaced our pipes over and over again and it is PVC pipe. There's nothing coming from our pipes," said Miles.
Neighbors came to the water facility hoping to talk to someone from the company but the spokesman is out of town.
The mayor came out and offered free bottled water and showers at a city facility. He says state environmental crews won't make it out until Friday to take a look.
For now, neighbors have to wash themselves, their clothes and other items elsewhere until the situation is fixed.
A J&S Water spokesman says the company is following every step of protocol and working with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to address the problem.
But it makes cities and towns all across the country wonder, how can you protect your water? Can it happen in a major city? Yes! Luckily, there are three things you can do:
1. Purify water by boiling - Place the desired amount of water in the pot, and bring to a full rolling boil over high heat. Let the water boil for 1 to 3 minutes (at higher altitudes, your water should boil for at least 3 minutes). As the water boils, if any debris, residue or foam comes to the surface, remove. As the water boils, you may add a pinch of salt to improve the taste. Allow the water to cool before drinking.
2. Purify water with bleach - Use bleach that does not contain dyes or perfumes (i.e. such as lemon scented bleach). Check the label—in order to effectively kill bacteria, the bleach should contain 5.25% hypochlorite.
If the water is clear, using the eye dropper, add 8 drops of bleach to 1 gallon of water (4 drops to a half gallon). If water is cloudy, add 16 drops to 1 gallon of water (8 drops for a half gallon).
If you do not have an eye dropper, you can use a teaspoon so long as you use larger quantities of water, as follows: If water is clear, add 1/2 teaspoon of bleach to 5 gallons of water. If water is cloudy, add 1 teaspoon of bleach to 5 gallons.
3. Purify water with iodine tablets - Measure water to be purified and add tablets as per manufacturer’s directions. Allow water to stand for 30 minutes before consuming. Be sure to follow product directions precisely as using too much or too little of the product can be hazardous to your health. DO NOT use Iodine tablets for water purification if you have a thyroid problem.
**Please Note**: While chemical purification (using Iodine Tablets or Bleach) may remove most contaminants from drinking water (including Giardia), they may not fully remove Cryptosporidium (a nasty intestinal parasite) from the water. Only boiling will do this.
