Health officials are assuring White Rock residents there's nothing unsafe about the brown water coming out of some of their taps, but that doesn't make it any easier to drink.
Problems have been plaguing some homes since the city started using a new treatment method last year, leading concerned citizens like Garry Wolgemuth to complain to Fraser Health.
"It smells like something you wouldn't want to drink," Wolgemuth told CTV News. "It smells like something out of a swamp."
But despite the water's disgusting appearance, officials from both the City of White Rock and Fraser Health insist testing has turned up no potential health risks.
"The water is bacteriologically and chemically safe to drink," Medical Health Officer Dr. Michelle Murti told residents in a statement responding to some of their questions.
That response, which has been echoed by municipal officials, did little to ease Wolgemuth's concerns. He said he feels residents have been given "the brush off."
Part of the problem has to do with how White Rock crews treat the water. They have already stopped using chlorine, which caused a reaction that contributed to the discolouration, but the root of the problem – a lot of heavy metals both in the well water and in the pipes themselves – isn't going away anytime soon.
Crews are currently going street-by-street flushing water lines of metals that have built up over the years, and White Rock utilities manager Saad Jasim said there has been some success since he came on board last year.
"We are making progress, and we are confident because we're following science, we're following proper procedures, and we're transparent. We're not hiding anything," Jasim said.
The city is also working on a treatment plant that’s expected to come online in 2019. That means for the next couple years, residents could still find themselves occaisionally waking up to murky tap water.
With files from CTV Vancouver's David Molko
