HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – For the past few days, the residents of the Commons of Lake Houston community in Huffman have only had access to their water from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m.
They say it often has a foul odor and isn't fit for drinking or much else.
The community's developer tells Channel 2 the problems began about two weeks ago when one of the subdivision's two wells at the private water plant malfunctioned. That led to a drop in water pressure -- which led to contamination in the system from the bacteria coliform.
Residents have been under a boil water notice and deal with six hours of absolutely no water.
"My wife and I get up to go to work in the morning around 4:30, 5 a.m.," says resident Craig Glenn. "Went to go take a shower and there was no water whatsoever. The entire system had been taken out of service."
Resident Denise Halls adds, "My goodness. Can you imagine trying to bathe and get ready for school your children and not have enough water? And trying to make sure the kids don't brush their teeth?"
For some -- like resident Diane Ellis -- the contaminated water is a special health concern. Ellis -- who suffers from chronic kidney disease -- was told by her specialist the water could be particularly harmful.
"The bacteria in the water, if I was to get in contact with this through a cut, bathing or whatever, could cause me some irreversible damage to my kidneys," she says. "Because the medication that they would have to give me to treat the bacteria would damage my kidneys."
In a statement to Channel 2 the community's developer -- The Signorelli Company -- says in part "We have continued throughout the day to disinfect the repaired well per TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) guidelines. The well can not be returned to production until a negative sample is achieved.
The lab running tests on the water collected an additional sample this morning. The developer -- who also owns the water plant -- says they will have the results of the latest sample tomorrow morning.
