Dirty water fit for drinking, not washing clothes

29 January 2020

Mains will be flushed as affected areas identified

Council is working to resolve a dirty water issue resulting from high mineral content washed into the river water following the long dry spell.

Last night, Council stopped pumping water through the reticulation network in a bid to isolate the issue to Murwillumbah.

Today, and possibly for the rest of the week, Council will flush the water mains to clear the iron and manganese from the pipes where areas are identified as being affected by the dirty water.

“While the Tweed is currently on Level 2 water restrictions, the Tweed River is flowing over Bray Park Weir so we can flush the mains without running down our limited storage supply of Clarrie Hall Dam, which is at 81.4 per cent capacity,” Manager Water and Wastewater Anthony Burnham said.

Residents are advised that while the water is unsightly, it is fit for drinking. However, it should not be used to wash clothes, particularly light-coloured clothes, as it may stain them.

“Anyone who has washed laundry to find their clothes stained is advised not to dry the clothes but put them back in water and treat them with a citric acid product to remove the stain before washing again in clear water.”

There are several commercial products available at most supermarkets.

To check if your water is dirty, run some water into a white-coloured container.

“If your water is coloured anything from a dark browny red to a light yellow, please call Council on (02) 6670 2400 and we will attend to flush the mains.”

Mr Burnham said removing the iron and manganese in the treatment process was finicky and constantly required fine-tuning.

“At the weekend we didn’t quite get it right but we are now more confident of the settings and believe we can put high quality water into the system from now on but it may take until Friday to clear the system of the dirty water already in it.”

For more information on dirty water and how to treat laundry, please visit https://www.tweed.nsw.gov.au/WaterQuality