Residents in this small Iowa town were left with undrinkable water after officials warned against consuming any of the pink liquid flowing from their taps.
According to local Kara Robinson: ‘Every time you flush the toilet, you turn the water on… pink.
‘The water tastes like iron. Like you are drinking straight pennies. That’s what it tastes like. It is horrible. Our kids don’t even like to use our ice because that’s what it tastes like.’
Shelby Water Supervisor Chad Gordon later explained that the pink color was due to potassium permanganate in the water system.
The official stated that while the water supply had been reduced to half, the chemicals used to purify it were not – causing the unusual color.
The unique problem, which began on September 10, was resolved yesterday but parents remain hesitant about letting their kids to drink the water.
‘Well, who’s going to give bright pink water to their children? Who wants to use that for anything?,’ Robinson told KWQC.
The troubled mother also revealed the town’s water supply had turned brown due to high levels of manganese in February this year.
‘If it’s not pink, it’s brown. I think there’s a lot of hurt feelings between the citizens and the city council, and we all feel like our voices are not being heard.
‘We are being run over. Nobody’s listening to what we are saying.
‘There’s a lot of good citizens here. And we just want the same; we want to be taken care of just like anybody else does,’ she said.
According to Waterlogic, potassium permanganate is used to remove bacterial growth, dissolved iron minerals, toxic compounds, manganese and hydrogen sulphide in water systems.
The oxidant is added into the system before the standard water treatment steps and then removed through filtration and disinfection.
At times, it is possible that residents of the area may receive pink water despite the systems working to remove the permanganate by flushing the distribution system.