‘It’s like slime’: Kawerau residents grossed out by dirty tap water

Kawerau residents have taken to social media to share their anger, along with photos of their water. Photos / Supplied, via RNZ

By Ashleigh McCaull of RNZ

Residents in a Bay of Plenty town are fed up with their rusty brown tap water, which they say is nasty to drink, dirties washing and causes skin irritations.

Kawerau locals have taken to social media to share their anger, along with photos of their water, which has had intermittent problems with discolouration since chlorine was added to the town supply in 2018.

Resident Ada Green said it had caused a lot of stress for her and her whānau.

“We are at our wits’ end because we have small children in the house, and every time we go to run a bath or shower it’s brown. Every time we go to bath our baby, and sometimes you’re in a hurry because it’s an emergency, it’s brown.”

A container of tap water posted online by a Kawerau resident. Photo / Mandy Blackburn, via Facebook

Perepere Brown blamed the water for his skin irritation.

“I’ve started scratching, getting itchy and stuff. So I’ve stopped using the shower here and started using the one down at the pool.”

Justin Kerrigan came to the realisation - while speaking to RNZ - that it could be the water which was causing his baby’s skin to flare up.

“Our baby sometimes gets rashes and we’ve been trying to pinpoint where it’s been coming from and maybe that’s something I need to start being aware of, whether she’s had a bath and broken out in a rash. Now I come to think about it, she’s had a bath and ended up with a rash.”

He wanted an independent inquiry to look into the quality of the town’s water supply.

Tap water being run into a bowl in Kaerau. Photo / Supplied, via RNZ

Rebecca Tonks was furious that her new water filters were already filthy, after only two weeks.

“They’re as black as black. And the stuff on the outside of them, it’s is like slime ... I don’t think we should pay any rates whatsoever until the council sorts it, because prisoners don’t get fed the kind of water that we’re getting fed.”

To add insult to injury, residents’ rates are about to increase.

Kawerau has been battling problems with discoloured water for the past five years, since chlorine was added to comply with safety standards, turning it yellow.

Kawerau District Council blamed increased rainfall and higher levels of the mineral manganese for the more recent colour change to red.

Mayor Faylene Tunui said the water was tested every five days and insisted it was safe to drink.

Kawerau Mayor Faylene Tunui. Photo / Troy Baker, File

However, she was meeting with government ministers this week to ask for help in finding an alternative to chlorine for the town supply.

“I’m asking for their joint approach to support the Kawerau District Council to return the Kawerau water to the pristine condition that it was, prior to the 2018 directive that we received.”

Meanwhile, the council was removing residue from the reservoirs, and would only take water from the Tarawera Bores for the next three weeks.