Ratepayer dirty with off- colour tap water

A SOUTH Townsville family is thinking twice about drinking the city’s tap water after it turned brown at their home on Sunday night.

Debbie Mcrobie was shocked when the water at her Macrossan St home developed a brown tinge ( right). “I’ve never seen anything like that before,” she said. “It had a strong smell.” She complained to Townsville City Council and early yesterday morning workers flushed out pipes at the home.

Ms Mcrobie said the water was still not completely clear.

“It still had a green tinge to it and this morning a very high chlorine smell,” she said.

“I wouldn’t drink it ( Sunday) night; we went out and bought water ourselves.

“I was even wondering if we should shower in it and we decided not to.

“We pay rates and everything and it wasn’t good to have water like that. I felt like, how many people are being affected? Will it make us sick?

“I have a 93- year- old mother- in- law and didn’t want her to have a shower in case she got anything in her mouth.”

The incident did at least have a silver lining, with Ms

Mcrobie given permission to use the water flushed out by the council on her garden.

The council’s director of infrastructure and operations Mike Chiodo said two complaints had been received from Macrossan St between Sunday night and yesterday morning regarding dirty water coming from the taps. “The council responded quickly and flushed the water connection to the property on Sunday evening and again on Monday morning,” he said.

“There are no recorded leaks in the area, and council is investigating the cause.

“Water quality is monitored to ensure compliance with the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines and the Townsville Drinking Water r Quality Management Plan.

“The plan provides the e yardstick to measure and d monitor compliance for alll water quality requirementss and customer complaints.”