West Nyack residents protest 'stinky water' in front of former SUEZ Water facility

Protesters are demanding refunds following weeks of dealing with foul water.

News 12 Staff

Nov 15, 2019, 1:17 PM

Updated 1,847 days ago

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Protesters in West Nyack are demanding refunds following weeks of dealing with foul water.
The protesters could be heard chanting, including the phrase, "Hey, ho, stinky water got to go!"
Thousands across the county have complained about the water tasting and smelling like dirt.
Kristy Engels, of Piermont, helped organize the rally from her Facebook page, "Suez Stinks."
"Right now, I'm paying money for a quality product that I can't use because it's awful. And I can't shop anywhere else for anything. So I'm having to go out of my own pocket to buy bottled water, look into a water filtration system to address their failure to produce a quality product," Engels says.
Suez Water and the county say the water is safe and that bad taste and smell are from harmless algae.
Protesters still were signing a petition to the state demanding it require Suez to refund its customers, but a spokesperson for the company says they are not giving anyone their money back.
"At this point we're not considering a credit for customers," Bill Madden said.
Protesters say they pay high rates for water they can't drink or use and that price could be getting higher.
News 12 was told the company also plans to pursue an 18% rate hike for customers over the next three years.
Protest organizers say they have been invited by Suez Water next week to get answers to their questions.
The State Department of Health released results of its testing and they say Suez water does not contain detectable levels of an algae toxin or the two types of bacteria they tested for.