Brown water back again this summer

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This article was published 16/07/2015 (3917 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Another wave of brown water is hitting taps across Winnipeg.

During the past few days, fresh reports of discoloured tap water have been flowing in from Winnipeggers, who are taking to Twitter to voice their concerns.

On Monday, Twitter users who said they lived in Charleswood, St. Boniface and downtown tweeted about brown water coming from their faucets. Reports such as those have been trickling in on Twitter from various Winnipeg locations all year.

Bernadette Geras has lived in her St. Vital home for 18 months, and in Winnipeg for almost 38 years. She said she’s had discoloured water in her home seven or eight times since moving in, but this round was “worse than ever.”

“Never, ever before in my life have I seen this,” Geras said. “It was like a dark brown carpet colour.”

Geras noticed the change on Tuesday, and it was an unpleasant surprise — she had just put a load of white bedding in the laundry.

“(The bedding has) sort of turned into a science experiment,” Geras laughed. “I’ve been spraying them with OxiClean and then watching them again, and then testing the water to see if it’s brown… We’ll see what happens.”

The city said it’s unlikely the discoloured water is dangerous, although its website recommends residents don’t use it to drink, cook, do laundry or shower. It can be used on plants or the lawn, and the city suggested running taps for 10 minutes and using the water for gardening. After running the tap, residents are advised to wait 30 minutes, when the water should be back to normal. If it hasn’t clear up in two to three hours, residents should contact 311.

Michelle Finley, a city spokeswoman, said discolouration can be caused by increases or changes in water flow.

Those can be caused by operational activities, such as water-main repairs or road construction, or an increase in water use, which tends to happen in the summer. These changes in water flow disturb the natural buildup of material in the distribution system, which makes for discoloured water.

The major culprit is manganese, a natural element found in soil, air and water. While it’s an essential nutrient for humans, in high levels it can make water smell, taste and look unappealing.

Finley said the city is receiving around the same number of calls about brown water this year as it did this time last year, but the level of reports in general has increased since 2010, after the commissioning of a new treatment plant. The plant uses ferric chloride, which is the primary source of the increase in manganese.

The city has a program in place to clean mains and reduce manganese levels, Finley said. For more information, check out the city’s water and waste department website at winnipeg.ca/waterandwaste/.