Toxic chemical found in drinking water in Monroe County

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect the water issue is in Tunkhannock Township, Monroe County.

MONROE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — A concerning water problem in part of the Poconos. Officials say a toxic chemical has been found in the water impacting thousands of customers.

28/22 News Reporter Gianna Galli was in Stroud Township Sunday to look into the water problem.

Toxic levels of manganese were found in the water at Blue Mountain Lakes development.

Residents there are now getting their water from a tanker and are concerned for their health.

One by one, residents filled up jug after jug from their new source of water on Sunday.

“I fill seven gallons of water on a day-to-day basis and get back to home and then again fill it into different jars so that we could do our work, our morning clothes, evening clothes, dishwashing anything else,” said Saurav Shah resident Blue Mountain Lake Development.

Residents say the water tanker arrived on Friday after they received texts from Pennsylvania American Water (PAW) the day before about “high manganese levels detected,” in the water.

“This is something serious. I got up real quick and I went to BJ’s and I bought as much water as I could get,” said Blue Mountain Lake Development Resident Neicy Rubin.

We detected higher than normal levels of manganese which is naturally occurring for infants younger than six months of age, bottled water or alternate sources of water should be used. That a water tanker is available for infants under six months of age and PAW is currently looking for a solution for this issue.

Pennsylvania American Water

But Rubin and others have many questions and wonder exactly how dangerous this can be.

“When you tell us the levels are high, what does that really mean? When is it safe? and when is it not safe? so we can make an educated decision on how we are going to go about it,” Rubin explained.

This is not the first water problem these residents say they have had.

A resident provided 28/22 news with this video of brown slushy water pouring from the faucet last fall.

“The water is never good here. It has a bad smell, chlorine smell. You cannot drink the water,” Shah stated.

“We need help and that’s the reason we are all down here right now. We need assistance,” Rubin added.

PAW has not said when the water will be safe to drink again or how the problem will be fixed.

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