BATHURST’S water woes are back, and some home owners across the city are filthy.
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Over the weekend homes in Llanarth got a serve of the dark coloured water, with other areas in Bathurst also affected yesterday.
The Bowker family, who live in Llanarth, have had dirty water on and off since Friday.
When mother Jacinta went to run the bath for her daughter on Tuesday night, she said the water was an unappealing dark muddy brown colour.
After filling and emptying the bath twice, though, the water did clear.
Bathurst Regional Council water and waste manager Russell Deans said council received around 10 calls last week about the quality of water.
While the latest one was from Llanarth yesterday, he said the other calls were scattered over the city.
“We got calls from all over Bathurst, including West Bathurst, Llanarth and Kelso,” Mr Deans said.
“We also got calls from businesses in the CBD area and council sent crews out to the areas to investigate the problem.”
Mr Deans said there are a number of reasons why water can be coloured and, if it’s an isolated case, council workers check the front tap at the property. He said the cloudiness of the water can also vary.
“The colour can range from a light tea colour to dark, like Coca Cola,” he said.
Council’s response depends on its diagnosis of the problem.
“It really depends what we find when we go there. Sometimes we flush the main in the street,” Mr Deans said.
While dirty water can be caused by a number of factors, Mr Deans said generally the culprit was magnesium coming off the internal pipe wall.
And, while the problem is generally spasmodic, he said it usually happens in times of high water demand.
“When everyone decides it’s not going to rain and they tend to use a lot more water on the grass, this increases the water demand and the water moves faster,” he said.
Mr Deans said in Bathurst there is over 400 kilometres of piping and if people experience any problems with water quality, they should call council and they will send a crew out.
He also reinforced to residents that even if the water is dirty, it is still safe to drink and use.
“There is no issue at all with safety, it’s just a pain when it comes to washing linen and clothing,” he said.
