Posted at: 07/09/2009 10:15 PM
Updated at: 07/10/2009 7:28 AM
By: Cris Ornelas, Eyewitness News 4; Charlie Pabst, KOB.com

South Valley residents fed up with brown water

Neighbors fed up with brown tap water

People in some Albuquerque neighborhoods are tired of drinking brown tap water.

Neighbors say they�ve tried to be patient, but six weeks later, they�re fed up.

When you live in a large metropolitan area, it�s something that�s taken for granted: clean, clear drinking water right out of the tap.

People in the South Valley say their water hasn�t been clear in weeks.

People who live in the Adobe Acres neighborhood of the South Valley say they�re fed up.

Resident Martin Montano said Thursday, "For about the last month and a half we've been experiencing brown water."

He says since the beginning of June, neighbors have been getting dirty, brown water from their taps, and when they call the water authority about it, they don�t get a lot of answers.

Montano said, "We were told it would be corrected and that was over a month ago."

The water authority says it is working on the issue, but so far, the source of the problem has been elusive.

Water Authority Spokesman David Morris told Eyewitness News 4 on Thursday, "The challenge we face is it will show up in one neighborhood and then go away, and then pop up in another neighborhood so its been difficult to isolate."

While most of the problems have been in the South Valley, there have been brown water reports as far north as Martineztown.

Meanwhile, people who live in the area are afraid to drink the water.

Resident Denny Sanchez said, "How good is the water? Are we getting germs? Are we getting bacteria? Are we gonna get sick?"

Morris said the water is safe. "Fortunately, the brown water doesn't represent any kind of public health risk or health threat," Morris said.

Some are questioning why a city that preaches water conservation is telling people to waste it.

"They've actually asked us to run our water for ten minutes and then if the sediments were not gone to contact them back," Montano said. "This one is after 20-25 minutes of running it and its still dirty."

Some are upset that on top of paying their water bills, they�re having to spend extra money on bottled water.