FOSTORIA, Ohio — If you live in Fostoria or have ever tried the water there, you likely have a strong opinion about the taste.
"Like sticking a musty old rag in your mouth," Fostoria resident Patrick Finerd said in reference to his drinking water.
Finerd's son, Gabriel, had a similar opinion.
"Musty rat garbage," he said.
The Finerd family is not alone when it comes to their thoughts on the drinking water.
"It tastes like dirt," resident Tarah Miller said. "And just last week, it was tasting more like a chlorine."
Recently, WTOL 11 has received multiple complaints about this issue. WTOL 11 reached out to a local Facebook group and went to Fostoria to see if anyone was interested in talking.
Over a dozen people responded on Facebook and one member of the group, Patrick Finerd, even offered some of the water right out of his tap.
There was definitely a taste, according to reporter Michael Sandlin, who described it as being like dirt or even mold.
Finerd said it has been this way for almost two years now and he has given up on drinking it, but still has to use it for things like laundry.
"Your clothes, it does smell like musty old rags. Towels are impossible to get clean," Finerd said. "We have to use the water for everything."
It goes beyond individual residents. Fostoria's American Table restaurant received so many complaints about the taste of their water and soda that manager Domingo Barone said it started cutting into the restaurant's bottom line.
"They (the customers) say the water is completely nasty, they ask us to do something about the water system," Barone said.
The restaurant spent $600 on three filters for the water, ice and soda machines.
Others like Miller are encountering something new with the water: a chlorine taste and smell she just started to notice last week.
"We've been reassured that the water is fine to cook with, but just based off the smell, I'm not comfortable with that," Miller said.
WTOL 11 tried reaching out to the city of Fostoria, hoping to talk to someone in the city utilities office or the mayor, but they politely declined and referred to their most recent social media post regarding the issue.
It explained the chlorine issue is from the city of Fostoria changing water reservoirs.
"The city water is safe to drink and use. We have conducted extensive testing throughout the city water system to ensure the city's chlorine levels are well within the EPA water standards," Rob Shaver, the city of Fostoria's water superintendent, said in the statement.
But there was no explanation for the taste, so now a city council meeting is set for Tuesday to hear from residents.
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