White Rock tap water looks like 'strong tea' residents complain

When White Rock resident Bev McLaughlin came home in mid-October from a week-long trip and drew a bath, she was not expecting her tub to fill up with dark brown water.

McLaughlin said she has continued to experience the murky water and has complained to the city.

"The water sometimes appears clear, other times it's the colour of very strong tea," she explained. "It's discoloured and aesthetically, it's very unpleasing."

White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin told CBC's The Early Edition McLaughlin needn't worry.

"[The water] doesn't look very palatable, but it's safe," he said. "We're trying to do the best we can to mitigate it."

Baldwin said the brown water is a result of the city's new water treatment strategy which uses chlorine. White Rock's water has a lot of manganese, he explained, and the manganese reacts with the chlorine and produces the brown sediment.

So far 28 people have complained about the water discolouration, and the city's plan is to complete their annual water main flushing to reduce what he called the visual problems.

New water treatment system

The city's water supply serves 20,000 customers and was privately managed by Edmonton-based utility company EPCOR until the city took over in Oct. 2015.

According to Mayor Baldwin, the city's water had not been treated prior to the takeover and they have worked to improve the safety of the water.

"Now we're going to treat it, and of course the changes are upsetting the equilibrium that has existed for many years," he said.

Earlier this year, city council committed $14million to new water treatments after the city confirmed naturally occurring arsenic and manganesein the water supply.A spokeswoman for the city saidthe water still meets Health Canada guidelines for Canadian drinking water quality.

In May, a large condo fire severely strained the water supply leading the city to issue a short-term boil-water advisory.

White Rock's water supply is separate from the Metro Vancouver system.

With files from The Early Edition

To hear the interview, click on the link labelled White Rock, brown water?