Yummy water

This afternoon my mom turned on the kitchen faucet to find yellowish/brown water coming out. I don't know about everyone else, but whenever I see my water change color I immediately think "health warning". Lord only knows what's in the water. It could be poo, pee, dirt, escherichia coli, salmonella, someone's lunch, let your imagination run wild. lol

I put some in a bottle and took a comparison shot with a clear bottle of water:



I was about to take a shower too, and there was no way in hell I was going to bathe in that! So my mom called the water company (it's billed to her name) and reported it, but she didn't want any inspectors to come over because she's paranoid about someone seeing our "messy house". I just wasn't having it. I mean ask yourself: would you bathe in this water?:sick2:



This last picture doesn't do it justice. The water cleared up a bit later, but the idea that anything could be in there is scary.

I could understand how pioneers in the 1800's bathed in murky water because they knew where the water came from: the river! I have no clue why my water is murky, and I'm not about to take my chances!:green:

Yuck!

Believe it or not I have had the problem where I live but not recently. It is not nice and the water service (NI water) over here is famously and notoriously bad even having the blatant nerve to tell us that there is absolutely no problem with the water, the ba$tards (sorry). Also there wa sthe issue of our water suddenly tasted bad a few years ago for a while but of course there was no problem according to the experts at NI water.

Where do you live?

Thanks

It's dirt or rust. They must have been working on the line upstream from you. When they work on water mains, they have to dig down to them and cut them open. This disturbs the pipe and introduces soil and/or rust from the surrounding soil or the pipes themselves, respectively. It's perfectly fine to bathe with, and it's usually safe to drink, but it would taste awful.

If you run faucets, especially hot water, or flush toilets when the dirty water is coming in, you have to run water until it's clear, which sometimes means running the hot water until it comes out cold and clear.

The alternative is to not use water during that time.

We have some strange changes in water quality throughout the year, but I've never seen brown before. I use a Brita pitcher to filter the water that I drink at home. It's for the taste; I'm not worried about safety.

I have a 5-micron filter on my house feed, so I don't notice that so much any more.

I'd get worse than that. Black gunk that the Aquarion water company technician told me not to worry about because it's just manganese. Well, it's super thick black gunk in my drinking water -- you want to drink it & then tell me it's okay???

That junk would usually come out, folks said, when the firemen would flush the lines. Hmmm. I know for sure that some would get dislodged when I'd run the sprinkler system.

Then there was the stench. After too many guests would tell me in friendly terms that my water tasted & smelled like a swampy overchlorinated swimming pool, that was it.

I couldn't put in a well (wetlands out back, sewer lines along the other property line) so a relative of mine who's in the biz for bio & commercial found & installed a residential reverse osmosis filtration system. WOW -- the water from that is superb!!!

There are many brands. Mine is this one from a company that used to be Flowmatic but I guess must have recently been bought out by Watts. There's a newer design of the same system that looks good. It's this one. Both are "5-stage" meaning that the water going into the R/O filter gets run through particulate, then a couple carbons, then the R/O, then a taste filter before it get to your glass...

It's designed to fit under the sink but I had my plumber install it in the basement so I can service it easily and have it run to the ice maker easily too.

Also, my plumber has a mini-distillation unit that he swears by. That's another good purification method, of course.

Not that you asked for a solution like these, but just thought I'd mention some options if your water gets like that frequently enough.

They must be flushing hydrants in your area or the main line may have been compromised and is picking up soil. Is the color coming from the hot or cold side? Could be the hot water heater.

binky said:

Also, my plumber has a mini-distillation unit that he swears by. That's another good purification method, of course.

Click to expand...

I have one of these (Sears brand) for my carnivorous plants. It's not practical for general household use, because it's slow and uses a lot of electricity. But it costs me about 1/3 the amount per gallon compared to buying distilled water at the store.

This happens in my home when I go away for several days/weeks. When I come back the water is quite yellow. If I let it flow for a minute or so it goes back to white.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. The water company called and they said they were changing water lines to get more flow from the Hetch Hetchy. I wish they called us this morning, I had to take a late shower so I was late for work.

I still wouldn't drink it if someone paid me to.:green:

That water reminded me of a Simpsons episode when the grandpa was in a bad retirement home. He called for nurse's assistance in his room. He tells the male nurse, "My I.V. is empty and my catheter is full". The male nurse switches the two and says, "See you tomorrow."
Seriously, maybe they're experimenting with reclaimed water (or as I call it, crap to tap).

My grandmother and grandfather (who lived in a old coal mining town) had water that always looked yellow to red sometimes. Their bathtubs and toilets were completely stained. They had well water. I don't remember what was in the water that caused it but the water must be safe. They lived to ripe old ages and my dad is 84 and going strong.

Bill

You can have colored water that is perfectly safe to drink. If the source water has a lot of tannins in it from vegetable matter it will tend to have a yellowish brown color. If you leave the water sit stil for aprolonged period and nothing settles out to the bottom and the color remains, it is just color and nothing to worry about. If it settles out it could very well be due to flushing of the main water lines. That has to be done to prevent buildup in the lines that could become harmful if left unchecked. But the buildup that is broken loose by flushing is also generally safe since it's been sitting in the water that has disinfectant in it. And there is one particular chemical that is very good at destroying harmful material in the water when nothing else seems to be doing the job. The down side is that if you have to use a large amount to get the job done, it can give the water a slight brown tint at first and if used in really high doses will turn the water pink right where it's applied.