Residents of Decatur may have noticed a slight odor or discoloration of their water recently, but Public Works Director Earl Smith said the water is safe to drink.

”Nobody was ever endangered as far as unhealthy water to our knowledge,” Smith said.

He explained that minor changes in Lake Bridgeport’s water caused a required adjustment in the pH, a measurement of the acidity or alkalinity (base) of a solution.

“Sometimes there can be just a little bit of a lag in the changes and getting the proper adjustments made,” he said. “(The changes in lake water) started about mid-August.

“We made that adjustment as fast as we could, but when you make adjustments like that, it takes some time to work it through the system,” he said. “Corrections were made, and it took some time to get the system flushed of that water.”

He said the flush was conducted last week.

He said the low pH levels “exacerbated picking up iron corrosion from the pipes and that’s what caused it to pick up a yellor or orange color. It wasn’t aesthetically pleasing, but it wasn’t unsafe.”

He said the pH level was always within compliance, according Texas Commission on Environmental Quality standards.

“The lake water is a dynamic situation. It’s changing all the time,” he said. “It’s not that the water was failing to meet standards … what we treat the water to is almost a razor’s edge, and when the ph gets just a little bit lower, it causes issues to arise in the distribution system.

“We think we produce excellent water here, and like anything else, an issue can come up. They can and do from time to time.

“But never has anyone’s water been unsafe.”

Residents with concerns about city water may call the Public Works Department at (940) 627-9600.