Brown water a repeat issue for residents of one local town

HANSON, Mass. — Imagine turning on your faucet and seeing brown, dirty water come out. A number of residents in one town say their water has been brown for several days after a water main break.

Residents tell FOX25’s Stephanie Coueignoux this isn't the first time they’ve had to deal with brown water.

This issue has gotten so bad that some people are now buying bottled water.

“It's scary. As far as I'm concerned it's a health risk,” Charles Landry, a Hanson resident and father of four said.

Landry said he no longer uses the water he pays for because he's afraid of what it contains. He contacted

FOX25 after he says he's gotten nowhere with the town.

“It's an issue we've had going on a number of years now,” he said.

In just the last month, there have been two separate incidents involving dirty water.

The most recent was April 10 after a water main broke on Jereva Road.

According to the town's 2013 drinking water quality report "Hanson's sources are considered highly susceptible to contamination from a variety of sources such as petroleum products, industrial solvents, fertilizers, and microbial contaminants."

Over time, sediment settles out of the water, but when it’s being moved through the pipes and out of a faucet it is dark brown in color.

“Over years it builds up and we do have a flushing program to eliminate it but it constantly is always building,” Hanson Water Superintendent Richard Muncey said.

Muncey says the town is replacing several water mains this summer, and is looking into getting a new water source. If they find one, the Department of Environmental Protection would require them to build a water treatment plant, which would eliminate the problem.

“It's a huge financial burden so we try and chip away at it a little at a time,” Muncey said.

Several people also told FOX25 they never received a reverse 911 call about this dirty water. The water department supervisor told me they will always post alerts on the town website, but a call was also sent out after FOX25’s interview with Muncey.

Cox Media Group