Rub-a-dub-dub, what's in the tub?

Most people don’t think twice about running a bath or filling a glass with tap water: They simply turn on the faucet and, voilà, out comes clear, colorless water. On rare occasions, you might have to let the water run for a minute to clear out sediments or rust particles that accumulate in the pipes.

That is not the case in some areas of Malverne, where the water, no matter how long many residents let it run before putting the stopper in the tub or filling a glass, remains various shades of brown.

It has been that way as long as anyone can remember. For Dawn Wladyka, it has been six years. For Tom Grech, 10 years. But until recently, most residents believed their brown water was unique to them, to their homes, to their pipes. They didn’t realize it was a widespread problem until late last month, when Grech took to the Internet to gripe about it.

“On a lark, I put something on Facebook,” he recently told the Herald. In just four days, Grech’s Facebook group, “I Love Malverne but hate the brown water (from LI Water),” grew to include 130 members and hundreds of posts.

Grech is now trying to mobilize his fellow Malvernites in a stand against water supplier Long Island American Water, the company that he and other residents believe is to blame. At the very least, they want some answers.

“I’m not going to make it a federal case,” Grech said, “but I am definitely going to hold them accountable.”

While it has long been a nuisance, the problem appears to have worsened in recent months, according to Wladyka, a mother of three young children who enjoy taking baths. The water is more discolored than ever and now leaves a residue in the tub after it’s drained, she said, adding that this is where she draws the line.

“It used to be, ‘Oh, it’s just Malverne water.’ Kind of a complacency,” Wladyka said. “I felt like we were beaten down. You try to do everything you can … but you just deal with it.”