Winnipeggers flood Twitter with frustration over brown water
Social media posts show discoloured water in at least 6 parts of the city
Discoloured tap water is flowing in some Winnipeg homes again this summer, prompting angry residents to flood social media with their photos of dirty glasses of water and ruined laundry.
Brown water has been an issue in Winnipeg since at least 2012, and it appears to be back again.
Some, like Bernadette Geras, discovered the latest brown water problem when it stained their laundry.
Geras said her pillows went into the washing machine "very white" on Tuesday morning and came out with rusty brown patches.
"Not that surprised but disappointed," the St. Vital resident said.
Geras aired her annoyance with discoloured water on Twitter, and she wasn't the only one.
Other people have tweeted about brown water in St. Boniface, Charleswood, downtown and the West End in recent days. It's also been reported in River Heights.
"It's the darkest I've ever seen it, actually, and so right away I was wondering if there was a boil water advisory," said Aleks Tucovic, another St. Vital resident.
A city-commissioned report released in 2014 blamed high levels of manganese — a naturally occurring metal that makes water brown — exacerbated by ferric chloride, a chemical the city uses to treat the water supply. The materials used to manufacture ferric chloride contain manganese.
- Chemical used in treatment made brown water worse, report says
- Winnipeg's brown water worst in 40 years, says expert
The report said the problem could be worse because the city had switched types of ferric chloride in 2013.
In an email to CBC News, the City of Winnipeg says the number of calls it's received regarding discoloured water lately remains comparable to the same period last year.
However, the city acknowledged that it's "still experiencing elevated numbers of calls compared to pre-2010" and it's still working on fully implementing the recommendations from the report.
The city noted that a natural buildup of material in water mains can get stirred up during main breaks or when water usage increases in hot weather.
The city reminds residents whose taps do run brown to run a cold-water tap for 10 minutes and wait 30 minutes after that. If the water is still brown after two or three hours, residents should call 311.
Meanwhile, Geras said she won't fight the city for new pillows, but she just wants the brown water problem fixed once and for all.
"I wish they would find the root of this problem because that's obviously not going away," she said.
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