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‘It is musty’: Wisconsin residents fed up with odor, bad taste in tap water

By CNN

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    RACINE, Wisconsin (WISN) — Racine residents are raising concerns about musty-smelling and tasting tap water, an issue city officials say is linked to Lake Michigan and warmer temperatures.

The city, which gained national recognition in 2011 for having the best-tasting tap water in the United States, acknowledged the problem on Tuesday, assuring residents via social media that the water remains safe to drink, cook, and bathe in. However, many residents remain dissatisfied.

“I won’t even give it to my grandkids,” Katrinea Thornton said. “I won’t even make ice cubes out of it.”

Thornton has turned to bottled water, which she says tastes better and gives her peace of mind.

City officials attribute the issue to warmer temperatures causing increased bacteria growth in Lake Michigan. Joel Brunner, the city’s drinking water plant superintendent, said the same problem occurred last year, prompting the city to budget additional funds for water treatment and testing.

“We are also working with the DNR and engineering consultants utilizing our powder-activated carbon system,” Brunner said.

He explained that the carbon system, which still requires approval from the Department of Natural Resources, would significantly improve the water’s taste and odor.

“It wouldn’t completely remove it, but it would definitely help with the taste and odors,” Brunner said.

For residents like Thornton, relief cannot come soon enough.

“I think we should be able to drink the water that we pay for instead of going to the store and buy water,” she said.

WISN 12 News has reached out to the Department of Natural Resources for additional information but has not yet received a response.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Senate passes bill to fund government in bid to avert shutdown ahead of midterm elections

By CNN
(CNN) — The Senate passed a bill on Saturday that would extend government funding to December 11 in a bid to avert a shutdown ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.The chamber moved to tackle the funding deadline over a month in advance of the September 30 deadline. It’s not yet clear though if lawmakers will manage to stave off a funding fight next month.The bill passed by the Senate would next have to be taken up by the House, where it’s fate is uncertain as that chamber has already passed an alternative measure.The Senate measure differs from a funding extension passed by the House in several ways, including a lack of funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, which have already been funded through the end of President Donald Trump’s term, and a temporary block on a proposed administration rule that critics warn would further politicize federal grants.Senate leaves for August recessThe Senate vote to pass the funding bill came in the early hours of Saturday morning, as senators attempted to wrap up a number of legislative items before departing Washington to return to their home states for the August recess.Ultimately, in addition to adopting the measure to extend government funding into December, the Senate also confirmed acting attorney general Todd Blanche as the permanent head of the Department of Justice, and, separately, rejected a voter ID measure.However, Senate Republicans chose to delay for now a vote on their budget resolution, which was meant to be a party-line package containing defense funding and parts of a controversial elections bill, after President Donald Trump called into a late meeting at the Capitol with several senators on Friday night to discuss their options, those senators said.Trump had demanded that the Senate pass the budget resolution before leaving town for their recess, and GOP Sen. Mike Lee had said he would object to any effort to speed up consideration and leave if the budget resolution did not pass. Both Trump and Lee have been pushing for the president’s elections package, known as the “SAVE America Act,” for months.However, Sen. Ron Johnson, who chairs the Senate budget committee, told reporters that during a meeting in Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s office on Friday night, the president called in and there was unanimous agreement that the GOP senators will go back to the drawing board for a “better” budget resolution, including more defense funding, that they can pursue when they return in September, rather than face a failed vote to advance a budget resolution this week.Republican leadership had also hoped to at least take a preliminary procedural vote on a bill focused on regulating name, image, and likeness deals in college sports, but senators were unable to reach a deal on the package.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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