Town residents boiling mad over water

JOHNSTON, R.I. (WPRI) -- A Johnston neighborhood is making waves, saying that their water has been undrinkable for months.

Residents along Miller Circle and Simmons Street tell Eyewitness News the water company isn't moving fast enough to provide them with clean water, and they say they've been contacting the Providence Water Board for almost an entire year now.

Resident Mary Dube tells us that she never knows what color to expect when she turns on her faucet, and as a person living with chronic liver disease, she needs clean water to drink.

"Naturally it's your liver that cleans you out, and I can't have this going through my liver," she said.

Call 12 For Action contacted the Providence Water Supply Board, and they tell us this neighborhood is now a priority, but admit that sometimes things don't move as fast as residents would hope.

"Unfortunately it's a process, and it takes a while," said the board's GM, Boyce Spinelli. "I know it's frustrating, we certainly know that, and we try to work with everybody."

The board stresses that at no time was the water in Johnston unsafe to drink.

They tell us they've decided to replace the water main in the area; lines have already been drawn on the street and work is set to being very shortly, meaning cleaner water should be flowing to that neighborhood very soon. They also say they've recently improved their methods of handing customer complaints to be sure that none of them fall through the cracks.