Brown water. Not good.

Hi all, Our water has turned brown.  Any ideas why?   Nothing seems amiss witht he pipes.  Last year we did a major renovation which involved all new plumbing; we passed both plumbing inspections and got a C of O.  We’ve never had an issue until this evening.    We also have a new water meter.

dnk

in Plumbers and Plumbing 13 years and 5 months ago

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jrouse | 13 years and 5 months ago

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Ask 311 to transfer you to their DEP person.  They will be able to tell you if there was any scheduled water main work in your area today.  You can also file a “dirty water” complaint that the DEP will follow-up on in 48 hours.  We just had a similar issue with a building we manage in Boerum Hill.  After we filed the complaint a DEP technician showed up in person to check on the water. John Rouse www.makingbrooklynhome.com

dnk | 13 years and 5 months ago

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wow, Steve and slopemope, thank you both for the great info.  311 was indeed clueless.  I haven’t yet had a chance to ask my next door neighbors.  Happily the problem has gone away by this morning.

slopemope | 13 years and 5 months ago

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99.999% chance it has nothing to do with you.  They did work nearby on a broken water main, they did some work across the street with a new service line, etc.  Report it.  check with neighbors.  311 will just give you a standard boilerplate answer because they’re clueless but call it in anyways.  Don’t drink the water until it runs clear.  When it finally does return to normal (i’ve been in situations where its been very dirty for a week!) , attach a hose to your hot water tank(s) and clear it – the whole thing – until its completely clear.  All of It!!!!  So now with all the water in your house running clear you can unscrew all your facuet aerators and clean them and the screens of debris.  Fun fun fun!  I’ve probabaly done this 3 times in the last 10 years.  I guess it gets easier each time.  I attached a pic of my last episode.

http://cdn.brownstoner.com/4f30bf135ee0e-processed-water.jpg

stevecym | 13 years and 5 months ago

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this happens when there is a water main break or if there had been a big fire in the area and the FD opened a lot of hydrants.  check with the neighbors, you should find they have the same issue.  it will clear soon. Steve