Problems with brown water persist

Expect rusty water for weeks longer, village says

Posted

Like many renovation projects, the work on the water tower near South Side High School has taken longer than was originally announced. And for some residents, that means more rusty water.

According to Kevin Reilly, the new supervisor of the Water Department, the tank has been painted and repaired, but it is not ready yet because maintenance of its iron-removal plant has not been completed. The filtration plant, which removes naturally occurring iron in the water, will be operational in a few weeks, he said.

“We’re also working with the Health Department to make sure everything is done up to their standards,” Reilly said. “We sent samples recently. We’ll send samples again after we do our maintenance on the iron-removal filters. Once they re-sample it and they feel it’s OK, they’ll let us turn the filters back on.”

In the meantime, residents have been using water primarily from the Maple Avenue water tank, with some from the well near Molloy College. The water from the wells that feed the Maple Avenue tank, however, can be rusty and discolored due to iron in the groundwater.

For residents whose water comes from the tower by South Side High School, this has meant months of stained bathroom fixtures, aesthetically unpleasing drinking water and water that stains laundry.Brower Avenue resident Dorothea Boitel said she has to flush her four toilets at least once a day. “[If the water] stands for any length of time, you get a brown stain on the bowl inside the toilet,” she said. “The whole thing that has water in it is brown, and you’ve got to scrub it away and put a little bleach in, and I do it constantly.”

A Wellesley Avenue resident who did not want to give her name said she was afraid that her water had rust from old lead pipes, and she had put a water filter on her sink and intended to put one on her shower. “The top of my Brita filter is pinkish-orange — like the residue — so what’s there before it goes down the filter,” she said. “There’s a film in the water of like an orange color. And that’s what we’d be drinking if it wasn’t for the filter. And that’s what’s scary.”

Page 1 / 2