The J.B. Marks Municipality has once again reassured residents that discoloured or brown water is not an indication of poor water quality.

According to specialists from the Water Quality Section the brown colour in the water is mostly caused by sediments that accumulate and settle in the reservoirs and supply networks.

“The sediments are mostly stimulated when operating reservoirs with sediments at 30% which is due to the load shedding or when there is low level of water in the network due to high demand, ” explained JB Marks municipality spokesperson, Jeanette Tshite.

They tend to access the systems during pipe burst fixing. They are also likely to access the system in cases of heavy turbid raw water that we come across during heavy rains which the Water Treatment Plant often struggle to handle,” she added.

In relation to health risk associated with the Municipal drinking water, Laboratory tests conducted internally and externally shows compliance of the Municipal drinking water to SANS 241 Standards for Drinking Water.

“For confidence of the water quality, residents are advised to seek laboratory testing of water at their respective apartments while at the same time, boiling their water before consumption until laboratory test results confirm the quality status,” advised Tshite.

What to do when you encounter brown water in your tap:

• Run your front garden taps for 3-5 minutes until the brown colour clears out.
• If the colour of the water does not improve in time of flushing, contact the 24hour line of the Municipality at 018 299 5347.
• Apart from laboratory tests, the Municipality will remediate the situation by flushing the network line from time to time in order to relieve the network from settled sediments.