South Ripley tap water turns cloudy, pressure drops after works

Residents at a fast-growing Ipswich suburb have been battling discoloured water and low mains pressure following works on Monday.

South Ripley tap water turns cloudy after works

Residents at a fast-growing Ipswich suburb have been battling discoloured water and low mains pressure following works on Monday, June 3.

South Ripley locals took to Facebook to complain their water had become cloudy, discoloured and smelly after the pipe works were carried out.

South Ripley mother Jacinta Evans said she first noticed a water outage on Tuesday.

“Straight away, as soon as I turned the water on I was like ‘oh, half the pressure’s gone’,” Ms Evans said.

“I was making my children dinner and putting the water onto potatoes to boil.

“And the potatoes in the water looked really weird.

“It was really thick, like a whole film (of scum) was on the top.

“The water was fine before they turned it (mains supply) off (for works).

A glass of tap water at a South Ripley residence on June 7, 2024, with particles clearly visible in it.

“It’s kind of like bubbles. It’s taking a really long time for these little bubble things to disappear.”

She was concerned about the water’s safety for consumption.

“It tasted different and I was hesitant about drinking,” she said.

“I didn’t know what was in it so I didn’t want my children and my babies having that water so I have been buying bottled water.”

Another resident also said she had lower-than-normal water pressure and her water filter head turned from white to dark brown in three days.

An Urban Utilities spokesman said “third-party developer’’ works were undertaken in South Ripley on June 3 but they affected only about of its 200 customers.

Some customers were notified ahead of the works via a letterbox drop.

However, other customers were unexpectedly also affected, the spokesman said.

“Providing safe, clean drinking water is Urban Utilities’ number-one priority,” he said.

“We’re aware some residents in South Ripley experienced a change to the appearance of their water following these works and we have responded and carried out flushing of the network.

“Cloudy or discoloured water can occur following activity in our network as sediment can be stirred up in the pipes, however it eventually clears.”

He said additional works needed to be undertaken in the same area next week.

If you are concerned about your water supply, contact Urban Utilities at 13 23 64 for emergencies.

For general enquiries please call 13 26 57.