Nov 13, 2008 7:36 pm US/Eastern
Brown Tap Water Plagues NYC Residents For Weeks
Reporting
Cindy Hsu
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Thousands in Manhattan and the Bronx are seeing brown when they turn on the tap. The discolored water started flowing after a water supply system was reactivated, stirring up sediment. (File)
CBS 42
Thousands in Manhattan and the Bronx are seeing brown when they turn on the tap. The discolored water started flowing after a water supply system was reactivated, stirring up sediment.
The water should have cleared up in a day, and residents were told the problem would be temporary, but now weeks later, the problem continues.
Baths are getting a lot shorter for many New Yorkers who have brown water gushing out of their spigots. Nina Migliorini lives in Stuyvesant Town and showed CBS 2 the residue the water left behind in her bathtub.
"This is what people are frightened about, this is what they're afraid of submerging their body in or showering their body in," she said.
Some days the water comes out brown, and on other days it's pretty light, but the problem continues to frustrate resident. Migliorini refuses to drink the water instead has been purchasing bottled water.
"It's clearly disgusting, you don't know what's in it, what's causing the discoloration," said Migliorini. "They just leave it to your imagination, [and say] 'Just trust us it's fine.'"
The Department of Environmental Protection says the water is safe to drink and does not require boiling, but washing clothes with discolored water may tint or stain garments.
City Councilman Dan Garodnick contacted the DEP about the problem last month when his office was flooded with complaints, and was told it would be cleared up within 24 hours.
Weeks later residents are still calling.
"They don't want to get in the shower because they're cleaner before they get in the shower than when they get out, and the DEP has totally failed to communicate with New Yorkers about what exactly is going on," said Garodnick.
The DEP says it plans to do more testing and to flush the hydrants in the areas where they're getting lots of complaints. They say, however, water problems may continue for several weeks.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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