Just a few weeks ago, if you ran the tap in Aldrich Hall, brown water would continuously flow. Photo by James McIntosh.
Several residential halls at the University of Rhode Island recently had water with a brown tint coming out of faucets, which caused concerns amongst students regarding whether or not to drink the water.
Students reported brown water coming out of bathroom faucets in Burnside Hall, Dorr Hall, Ellery Hall and Gorham Hall. Several students said the water had a brownish tint when coming out of the faucets and when more water was collected, such as in water bottles, it had even more of a brown discoloration.
The Assistant Director of Utilities Management, Dave Lamb, said the brown water was due to a slight imbalance in chemicals used to treat the water. Lamb said that they add hydrated lime to the water supply to raise the water’s pH, and they add chlorine to help sanitize the water.
“When you put all that together, if something gets out of balance a little bit, sometimes you get a little more precipitate than normal,” Lamb said.
The precipitate, which is sediment resulting from naturally occurring manganese and iron, is what causes the brownish tint to the water, according to Lamb.
Additionally, the Director of Housing and Residential Life (HRL), Frankie Minor, said trouble with a pH meter may have also played a role in causing the brown water.
“The things they used to test [pH] were giving some slightly incorrect readings, so how they adjust it to maintain the pH may have actually triggered this a little bit,” Minor said.
Lamb said that if the water appears to have a brown tint to it, students should not drink it. He said the brown tint means an excess of minerals have built up in the water and although it is not a health hazard, it is not ideal to drink.
Minor also said that it is not a health hazard and that the water was still safe to drink.
“My understanding is that while it is unpleasant to look at, it is not unsafe,” Minor said.
Several students who experienced the brown water in their faucets expressed concern that the water was not safe to drink. Dave Acciardo, who lives in Burnside Hall, said he was “surprised and grossed out” by the brown water.
“I did not drink the water and [I] used bottled water to brush my teeth,” Acciardo said.
Acciardo experienced brown water in both his faucet and his toilet. He said he tried to run the water and flush the toilet, but the brown water did not go away quickly. Additionally, Acciardo said he would be hesitant to drink the water at first even once it cleared up.
Another student who experienced brown water coming out of the faucets, Dorr Hall resident Tyler Pelletier, said it took almost 48 hours for his water to return to normal.
“I thought it was disgusting because there was a film of oil or something on top of the water also,” Pelletier said.
Pelletier said that even when the water is clear, he is nervous to drink the water because of situations like this. He said he experienced brown water coming out of the faucet at times last semester, as well.
Minor said students should not be concerned about the quality of the water they drink at URI.
“Perception and reality are sometimes very different things,” Minor said. “I think if those students are concerned, they should talk to a healthcare expert or somebody who is a water safety expert.”
Minor said students can buy filters for their drinking water. He said if students want to, they can even buy a filter to put over their faucet. However, he said if a student chooses to do this they must contact HRL and have HRL install the filter in order to avoid accidental damages.
In order to get rid of brown water, Lamb said students can call the Facilities Control Center and the appropriate people will be notified.
“The best thing you can do, in that [scenario], is call the control center and they send out the plumbing shop to the building and we try to flush the building,” Lamb said.
Lamb said students can run the faucets until the brown tint clears from the water. Lamb said that it may take three to four minutes for the water to clear.
“Usually it takes a few minutes and people don’t want to run the water, they think they’re wasting the water,” Lamb said. “But, the ideal solution is to just run the water until the system clears out.”
However, both Acciardo and Pelletier said they ran the water for approximately five minutes without it clearing.
Lamb said that because of the recent issues with students experiencing brown water in their dormitories, Facilities Operations is hoping to complete a full flush of the water system during spring break. Lamb said this will likely take between three to four days.
“We’re going to systematically flush from the top of campus to the bottom of campus,” Lamb said. “Whatever is in the mains, we’re going to get out. And then we’re going to go into each of the dormitories and flush each of the dormitory buildings so when students come back hopefully we won’t have a recurrence.”
Minor said there have been 13 reports of brown water that students submitted since September 2018. Lamb said they have not had any reports of issues in the past two weeks, which he hopes means the issue has been resolved.
Minor said that if a student knows of a facilities related issue, it is important to report it to HRL.
“If there is an issue, whether it is isolated or whether it’s systemic, students are often going to be the first one’s to know about it and so the more quickly we know about it the more quickly we can respond to try to deal with it,” Minor said.
URI drinking water undergoes all state and federal required testing and has passed all state and federal water quality guidelines.
If students experience issues with their water they can call the Facilities Operations Control Center at 401-874-4060.