ST. CLOUD, Fla. — Toho Water is interested in taking over the City of St. Cloud’s water service, which has experienced years of water woes and a failing water system. 

Ice-pigging, line-swabbing and unidirectional flushing are the ways the City of St. Cloud is using to combat the water discoloration with which residents like Christine Ladas-Drake are dealing.

She showed Spectrum News 13 a recent bottle of water she collected from her tap that had a brownish-orange tint. 

Earlier this week, St. Cloud was presented with a proposal from Toho Water to manage the utility’s water system.

But affected residents like Ladas-Drake don’t agree with it. 

“The problem is not going to change in that respect,” Ladas-Drake said. “It’s just a simple situation of what do we stand to lose when we sell our water to Toho, or if we sell our water to Toho, or if we lease our water to Toho… We stand to lose the money that we make. It’s literally our city’s only money-maker.” 

The majority of customers would see lower bills, and utility employees would keep their jobs, Toho said.

St. Cloud officials said no plans are set in stone.

“This is not a done deal. This is very preliminary information,” City of St. Cloud spokesperson Maryemma Bachelder said. “Like with anything else, there are positives and negatives, and the (city) council is going to take a hard look at all of those things in totality before they make a decision.” 

A majority of the St. Cloud City Council would have to approve for Toho Water Authority to assume management of the city's water system.

Council members also are considering the option of selling the water utility to Toho Water. However, that would require a voter referendum, and two-thirds of St. Cloud’s voters would have to approve the move.

Toho Water will make another presentation with more information and numbers before the St. Cloud City Council makes any decision.