Napier's dirty water: Pirimai resident wakes to brown water

A little brown water is not unusual in Pirimai.

Pirimai resident Jodi Baxter is used to a little brown water emerging from her plumbing.

But the water that she refused to shower in this week was "markedly different".

"It was intensely dark brown, loads of black flecks of some sort of sediment in it ... major brown discolouration with significant amounts of black sediment, that didn't clear up for hours," Baxter told Hawke's Bay Today.

"The white shower was staining brown, and the floor of the shower looked like a man had left six months of facial shavings all over it.

"You're supposed to run the outside tap for 15 to 20 mins if it happens, to give it a chance to clear the lines."

She said as a result there was no drinking water in her house apart from their "civil defence stash".

"Fair to say, [it was] not great to wake up to," Baxter said.

"The inconvenience in unable to shower and the worry about drinking it was pretty high.

"I think by about 1pm I tried it and it was fine."

She was not aware of residents being notified that work was being done on the pipes.

A Napier City Council spokeswoman said they received about 50 calls on Tuesday, which reduced to three on Wednesday and two on Thursday, about the dirty water.

"Residents were notified," she said.

"The dirty water happened because we have changed the water source in nearby Tamatea and Parklands to put in a long-term solution to water issues there.

"This changed the direction of the water, dislodging manganese that occurs naturally in the water. Manganese reacts to chlorine in the water, discolouring it."

The issues were dealt with quickly by flushing the water system, she said.

"If you have discoloured water coming into your household run your outside tap for 15 minutes to flush the pipes," the spokeswoman said.

"Napier's source water has a manganese level of less than 0.07 mg/L, well below the manganese Maximum Acceptable Value of 0.40 mg/L. Flush your system before you drink it, although it is harmless."