HOUSTON - If there's one thing that can get a whole neighborhood in the street in 100 degree heat, it's this: "That's worms! That is so worms!" said neighbor Tammy Early. "That's just gross. Oh my God, I'm freaking out right now."
Tiny worms clogged Early's sprinkler and it was even worse for Tara Miles.
"This water was coming out of the bathroom faucet," said Miles, holding up a bottle of water with several worms floating inside.
About 30 neighbors in the Woodland Acres subdivision of Old River-Winfree came out to the water facility Wednesday afternoon with their own samples to show. They all said the worms are flowing out with their tap water.
"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.
"It's not good enough but what can you do," said Old River-Winfree Mayor Joe Landry.
For now, neighbors plan to do their washing somewhere else and keep their eyes out for any slimy intruders.
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.
