Reidsville, NC -- When you turn on your faucet to get a drink of water, wash your hands, or cook, brown water is about the last thing you want to see. However, that's exactly what people in Reidsville have been dealing with for the past week.
"It was brown, it's like tea," described Annie P. Pinnix. She wasn't happy about the water staining a load of her white laundry.
Her daughter, Tanika Mebane, said, "We didn't use it at all."
"We didn't even use it to wash our hands," she added. "I had to use bottled water and I would get like the gallons of water from the grocery store and use that for us to take our bath in and wash clothes."
Reidsville Water Plant Superintendent Gary Moore explained since Lake Reidsville is so low, they had to take water from the bottom of the lake.
"The water quality is very poor down at the bottom as opposed to the top and that was the reason we had manganese go out in the water," said Moore. "Manganese is non-toxic but it does cause everything to get a brown color or a yellow color."
They have been working on the issue this week and are seeing an improvement as the water gets clearer. Still, Moore insists it's safe and said he even drank it when it was discolored.
"Tasted good honestly," he said.
As for how the water affects laundry, he said, "If they use Clorox most likely it would have oxidized the manganese out and stained the clothes a brownish color." He recommended waiting a few days to wash whites if your water has been been brown.
City Manager Michael Pearce said it would be up to the city council to consider options of how to handle water bills for people who had the discolored water.