Yesterday two men from totally different parts of the city turned up at the Western Advocate with their bottles of filthy tap water. A third resident just wanted to complain.

David Johnston, who lives in Keppel Street, said he took a bottle of brown tap water to then mayor Paul Toole six months ago, however, not a thing was done about it.

Yesterday he took a second bottle to new mayor Greg Westman.

He had called in at home for lunch and on turning on the tap filled his glass with the brown stuff.

“Council says to run the water for a while – it might eventually run clear, but it’s still crap.

“When my wife gets home she runs a bath and it looks like this. Even after running a whole bath full of water it’s still dirty.

“Last time I looked we didn’t live in a third world country.

“It’s a real shame. I know people who live in Orange, and their water is always clear.

“It’s embarrassing more than anything. I went to Bangkok and the water was clearer than this,” Mr Johnston said.

He added that this is an ongoing problem and one that needs to be fixed.

Ashley O’Farrell lives in Parnham Street in West Bathurst.

He filled a bottle with dirty water on October 24 and left his name with council, but no-one has returned his call.

His family has been buying water for the past six months because they are afraid there will be health risks from drinking the town supply.

“If you are late in paying your rates council charges you interest – are they going to give us discounts because of this?” he asked.

“It’s not good enough given the big rates we pay.

“We can’t even drink the water out of the tap. “I lived out west at Peak Hill and we never had a problem.

“I have family in Parkes and Dubbo and they’ve never once complained about the water,” Mr O’Farrell said.

He said he will keep collecting bottles of brown water and marking the date on them as long as there is a problem.