What’s Causing the Muddy Taste in Shreveport’s Water?

SHREVEPORT, LA - Over the past few days, Shreveport residents have been complaining about a muddy or dirty taste in the water. The color is also not quite as clear as normal.

KEEL News caught up with Shreveport Water and Sewer Director William Daniel to ask him about the problem.

He says "we have been getting calls about the taste of Shreveport water. We had a very unusual situation happen and it seems like we’ve had a lot of these kinds of problems this year."

What Is Causing the Muddy Taste in the Water?

Daniel says there has been an algae bloom in late December which is completely and totally unheard of. He says the warmer weather has contributed to it. Daniel says:

We treat until the last part of October or into early November and then we stop treating because the algae doesn’t bloom after that. But we had a late season algae bloom. It’s not harmful. We have notified the Department of Health. It does create a kind of bad taste in the water.

Daniel says they have done a lot of flushing to try to get rid of it. He says the complaints about the bad taste came primarily from neighborhoods closer to the water plant.

Daniel says you can put the water in the refrigerator and cool it and that will make that murky taste go away. Nobody expects the algae to be blooming at the end of December.

Daniel says when an algae bloom happens like that we don’t notice it immediately. He says it’s hard to tell if there’s something going on. He says they got alerted to the problem when people started calling in about the bad taste in the water.

But there is no health issue. The water is safe to drink and the taste should be back to normal in most neighborhoods. If you are having a problem with your water in Shreveport, you can click here to report it.

Daniel says we would “never, ever put out a product that was unsafe.”