St. James Public Works officials began investigating concerns about the water quality in parts of the city after residents reported foul-smelling and discolored water in their homes.

On Sept. 28, after receiving reports from city residents regarding water quality concerns, St. James administrators issued a public statement on social media asking that residents experiencing discolored or odorous water report it through the Hometown Grid, a service used by the city to track and aggregate data about city utilities.

“Over the last couple of weeks we have received several notifications from customers of water discoloration or odorous water. We ask that customers with either of these issues call into Hometown Grid and report it so that we can build a good map of the issues,” the post read.

Hometown Grid is an artificial intelligence-powered tool used by municipalities that let residents report utility outages and irregularities. The tool acts as a dispatch service for city utility crews by creating a digital map of outage reports, allowing utility workers to identify areas with a high concentration of outage ports.

Public Works Director Lyle Thomas said if residents report water quality issues on Hometown Grid, it will help the city locate the source of any potential waterline leaks or contaminants more quickly and efficiently.

“Doing it that way, it plots it on a map, so we know where it’s at in relation to where our water lines are. We can start getting an idea of the terrain,” Thomas said, adding that it is important to locate the source of an irregularity in the city’s water system in order to fix it. “Whenever you try and flush lines, you’ve got to know the target area that you’re going to flush because it’s all a combined system. Otherwise, all you’re going to do is end up sucking more bad stuff into that one area.”

Thomas said the city is aware of the water-quality issue and has taken measures to identify its source as it continues to build a map of resident-reported water-quality irregularities through Hometown Grid.

Public works officials have taken water samples and are awaiting results to verify what irregularities or contaminants city water may have. Public Works is also continuing to check activity at the city’s three active wells daily. An overactive well pump could indicate a broken water line or other type of leak somewhere in town.

“We’ve been keeping an eye on the amount of water that we’re bringing up out of the wells to see if there’s been any spikes. In some cases, when you have a leak, there’s a lot of water going out of that rupture. It won’t let anything in, but it’s pushing water out,” Thomas said, adding that a high-pressure water leak can break loose mineral buildup inside of water lines, which can then show up in people’s home taps.

Besides a broken water line, Thomas suggested that construction, work with heavy machinery, or other “shocks” could also be the cause of debris-filled water in residents’ homes.

“When you see things moving the ground, whether that be heavy equipment in the area, or boring for communications lines, anything that can shake the ground, especially when the ground is really dry, can shake these old lines and knock loose debris,” Thomas said.

St. James residents living around Anna Street, on the southeastern side of town, said that their water has been discolored, odorous or both, for weeks.

Jerri Caswell, who lives on Anna Street, said that she noticed in early September that her tap water had a brown tint and was “rotten.” At first, she thought the issue was related to a two-year-old hot water heater. After having it replaced, the issue with her water persisted.

Christa Miller, who also lives on Anna Street, said the problem with her water also began earlier this month.

“We noticed that whenever I would give my kid a bath or fill the bathtub up, the water was brown and had a really strong sulfur smell,” Miller said.

Miller also believed the issue was related to her hot water heater, which she had replaced. While the replacement helped with the sulfur smell, Miller said her water still fluctuated between being clear and having a “really brownish color” or “tinted yellow and smelling like pennies.”

For now, Miller is only using city water after she boils it. Her family has resorted to buying gallons of distilled water instead of consuming city water, over fears that it may be harmful to her and her children.

“Since we’ve noticed the color issues, we’re not drinking the tap water anymore. I’m not going to jeopardize my kid by drinking anything that’s going to make him sick,” Miller said.

Sharan Holt, another resident of Anna Street, said that issues with her water started about a month ago.

After Holt noticed the water looked like “pure, solid rust,” she hired a plumber to inspect her home’s water pipes. According to Holt, the plumber said that her home pipes were clear and that her water continues to have discoloration and a foul smell.

Residents in other neighborhoods in St. James also said they’ve experienced issues with their city water.

Heather Look, owner of The Razor’s Edge Hair Salon on North Meramec St. said that the water at her business has been discolored and foul smelling for around two months. She, like others, thought the issue was related to her hot water heater and had it replaced.

Installing a filter in her hot water heater helped with the color, but not the water, Look said, “our water smells horrible.”

After the problem persisted, Look issued a complaint to the city, who flushed her water lines via the fire hydrant adjacent to her business. Doing so fixed the issue at Look’s business, but only for about a month.

Now, the foul smell has returned.

“It’s been hard on the salon, because when they’re laying back, that’s all they smell. It’s totally embarrassing.”

According to Look, the issue hasn’t affected her business too badly. Her customers still show up and are good-spirited about the smell, which Look said, “has become a standing joke.”

As of Sept. 29, the majority of water-related outage reports on Hometown Grid appeared to be from the area between Boys Town Road and Anna Street, with about 21 reports from that area.

City Administrator Leeann DeMouche said that the city is “doing the best we can to try and pin this down,” adding that issues with city water can take longer to fix because the water infrastructure is buried underground.

DeMouche also urged residents to report problems with utilities through Hometown Grid to help the city identify and fix any potential issues sooner rather than later.

Residents can report outages through Hometown Grid at hometowngrid.com/stjames or by calling or texting 866-756-7011.