Tap water ‘disgusting’

Bottled water is now a permanent item on Heather Wilson’s shopping list.

The Huntly mum has had enough of turning on her tap and brown water running out.

Tuesday was the worst it’s ever been, Wilson said.

She went to run a bath for her children around 5.30pm, but the water that came out was ‘‘disgusting’’.

‘‘It was almost a reddish black,’’ Wilson said.

‘‘It was just like stagnant, dirty swamp water – the river water is cleaner.’’

Wilson didn’t notice a dirty odour, but said the water had a strong chlorine smell.

‘‘Even when it is clear, I won’t drink it because I don’t know what’s in it.’’

Wilson has started buying bottled water for her family to drink because the problem is becoming more frequent.

‘‘Most people in Huntly are like that now, they won’t drink the tap water unless it’s boiled.

‘‘I’ve got a baby and I won’t even put tap water in the jug, I use bottled water.’’ Tuesday’s water was the worst. ‘‘My camera makes the water look a lot clearer than it was.’’

Wilson phoned Waikato District Council straight away.

‘‘A guy was there within 15 minutes and flushed the pipes.

‘‘He advised to run it some more to get all of the brown out, so the kids didn’t get a bath until 8pm.’’

He’d been flushing pipes that morning along Harris St, Wilson said.

It was only mid-February when she had her last problem with the water.

‘‘It wasn’t as bad, but it was still undrinkable.

‘‘Council always says the same thing – to flush it for 10 minutes and if it’s no better to call them back.’’

The 28-year-old has lived on Parry St all her life.

But it wasn’t until last year she started experiencing a problem.

It was after the water meters were installed, Wilson said.

‘‘It’s pretty annoying, it stains all of our towels in the wash and I just want them to fix it.’’

Yesterday morning Wilson’s water had improved, but it still wasn’t clear.

Council acting waters manager Karl Pavlovich said Wilson’s problem may have been caused by council flushing the pipes.

This is done to reduce the amount of iron and manganese sediment that builds up, Pavlovich said.

This is what causes the water to turn brown, he said.

‘‘Sometimes, as a result of the flushing, a plug of disturbed sediment comes through the system.

‘‘These can be held back by air pockets or undisturbed or low velocity water.’’

These are random and it is impossible to tell if the flushing will result in the disturbance of settled sediment, Pavlovich said.

‘‘We do not believe the brown water poses a health risk.

‘‘We do acknowledge that the brown water is very unsightly, may taste unpleasant and when it happens it is unacceptable.’’

The water has gone through the treatment process and is chlorinated, Pavlovich said.

However, he admitted neither he or anyone at council would drink the water.

‘‘We acknowledge that this is unacceptable and we apologise.’’ ❚