Hold Aqua Accountable: Fix the Water Crisis in Shale Creek (Rhome, TX) Now!

Why this matters:

For over a decade, the residents of the Shale Creek neighborhood in Rhome, Texas have been forced to live with substandard, damaging water provided by Aqua. This is not just an inconvenience—it is a long-standing crisis affecting our health, our finances, and our homes.

It is critical to recognize that this Aqua water issue is not an isolated incident confined to our immediate neighborhood, here in Shale Creek. The challenges we are facing locally reflect a much larger, systemic problem currently impacting numerous surrounding communities across Texas and expanding well beyond our state lines

Because Aqua is a utility monopoly in our area (Shale Creek, Rhome Texas) we have absolutely no other choice but to use their service. Yet, we are paying for water that we cannot trust.

By signing this petition, we are standing together to demand action on three critical issues:

Health & Safety Risks: Our families deserve safe, clean water for cooking, bathing, and daily life. A decade of poor water quality is enough.

(Photo courtesy of Shale Creek Resident Amanda M. )

Severe Property Damage: This water is actively destroying our homes. Neighbors are constantly replacing rusted plumbing fixtures and costly appliances—like water heaters, washing machines, and dishwashers—due to the terrible water quality.

Unacceptable Deflection: When we complain, Aqua tells us to spend thousands of our own dollars on whole-house filtration systems. It is entirely unacceptable for a multi-million dollar monopoly to shift the cost of fixing infrastructure onto the wallets of paying customers.

Our Demands:

We demand that Aqua, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC), the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and the EPA,  immediately investigate, identify, and execute a permanent solution to correct the water quality issues in Shale Creek. We also demand that local county commissioners of Wise and Denton county and state regulatory authorities step in to review their infrastructure and hold them accountable.

We are calling on Aqua Texas for immediate service response/TCEQ Public Drinking Water/complaints for health - safety investigation, and PUCT Customer Protection/Water Utility Regulations for monopoly utility service issues.

Rhome/Shale Creek families want testing results, a written corrective-action, timeline, and accountability for damaged, plumbing, fixtures, and appliances.

We have suffered in silence for YEARS! It is time for Aqua to fix our water, not our wallets.

Please sign this petition to show your support, and share it to our neighborhood Facebook group so every voice in Shale Creek is heard!

Please take the time to file a complaint with the Public Utility Commission of Texas Water Complaint Form

 Aqua Texas headquartters is located at 1106 Clayton Ln, Suite 400, Austin, TX 78723, and can be reached by phone at 877-987-2782 Customer Service & Emergencies: Call 877-987-2782 (available 24/7 for water quality concerns and emergencies) 

Corporate Headquarters
762 W. Lancaster Avenue
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
For Essential's Investor Relations department, please contact: investorrelations@essential.com
Brian Dingerdissen, VP, Chief of Staff, Investor Relations and Communications
610.645.1191

For Essential, Aqua and Peoples media relations, please contact 877.325.3477,  or email media@essential.com

For Aqua customer service, please contact 877.987.2782.

"When a public utility company tells its customers to buy their own whole-house filters to fix bad water, it is both operationally unacceptable and deeply unethical. I am sharing Aqua's latest response, to me, from their water and waste manager on 9/29/2026  as proof that they want us to pay to fix their problems."