Cold Water is brown??? Hot water OK - what is going on???

[snowdog]

The water coming out of any of my faucets if set to cold is BROWN colored. I've tried running it for a while but it stays brown.

The hot water looks OK though, so I am pretty sure the issue is not one I had once before, which was sediment in my hot water heater (where HOT water was brown, but cold was OK).

Can anyone give me any clues as to what is going on and what I should do????? Could this be a problem from the water company, something outside my house?? I live in a 15 year old townhouse and I believe all of the pipes are either copper or plastic, so not sure what could be rusty, if that is even possible????

[snowdog]

I'm gonna answer my own question ;-)

This appears to be a problem with my water company. I tried calling them, and although there was no one currently in the office (after hours) their answering service told me that there was an issue going on with some kind of water main break in the area, that they were working on it, and yes, it could result in my water being discolored.

The service didn't have any info on it, and couldn't answer my questions like "is it safe to drink or use?", "when will it be fixed?", "do i need to keep running my water till it clears up?", or what, but I've noticed that over the past couple hours the water is no longer running dark brown, it is more just cloudy. I will let things sit overnight and see how it is tomorrow, and will call them during office hours to try to get more info.

[mrcaptainbob]

Once the water c9omapny is finished with repairs, it should return to clear. After you've run all cold water faucets to clear the cold water lines in your house, go to the water heater. IT should be completely drained and refilled with the fresh water. There are procedures for that depending on if it's a gas or electric water heater. Let us know how it's going for you....

[HayZee518]

it wouldn't hurt to remove the aerators at your different sinks and clean them of sediment too!