GROVELAND, Fla. — Residents in parts of Groveland spent the weekend dealing with brown and orange-colored water coming from their faucets. Some residents described the water as “tea” colored.
City officials originally attributed issues to routine maintenance, but now say it was a mechanical issue at the city’s water plant that caused discoloration. The discoloration is from natural sediment like iron, according to T.J. Fish, who oversees utilities for the city.
Groveland resident Stacey Cooper said she first noticed the discolored water Sunday morning while making coffee and filling the bathtub.
“It came out almost like an orange color,” Cooper said.
Cooper shared photos of the water on Facebook, where many other residents in Hidden Lakes and surrounding neighborhoods reported seeing similar discoloration. One resident even shared a video showing a water filter stained an orangish-brown. Another resident posted she washed her bed sheets over the weekend to find them stained from the water discoloration.
The City of Groveland originally told Channel 9 that the discoloration and reports of low water pressure were tied to scheduled fire hydrant flushing. However, T.J. Fish, who is over utilities for the City of Groveland, said crews soon discovered a more significant issue.
“That’s a lot of mineral content, and that’s not what we normally get when we’re doing normal flushing,” Fish said, referring to pictures of the discolored water on social media.
Fish says a major high-service pump kept turning on and off for roughly an hour. He says it caused repeated pressure fluctuations and stirred up naturally occurring sediment that had settled within the water system. He says it was predominantly iron.
“It’s suddenly into the system and coming out people’s faucets. Not what we would prefer,” Fish said.
While hydrant flushing can sometimes cause minor discoloration, Fish acknowledged the water residents saw over the weekend was much darker than what crews typically encounter.
“What happened Saturday made some people’s water much darker than even that,” Fish said. “I’m acknowledging that it was a rare event, but it is not a water quality issue. It’s safe to drink, but I’m not gonna drink brown water.”
The city says the mechanical issue has been repaired and maintains that the water continued to meet Environmental Protection Agency standards throughout the event. Officials say the discoloration was caused by natural sediment, not contamination.
Fish said that under normal hydrant flushing conditions, discoloration typically clears within about five minutes. But some residents say they ran their water for extended periods of time without the water completely clearing.
Some residents are still reporting slightly discolored water as crews continue emergency hydrant flushing June 16-June 19. If you see discolored water, the city says run your water for 10 to 15 minutes for it to clear now that the mechanical issue is fixed.
But for some residents, like Cooper, they are sticking to only bottled water.
Cooper says the city dropped off stain remover and a flyer with information on the emergency hydrant flushing at her home.
Fish says the city’s annual water quality report will be released this month.
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