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I am living in my dorms at the moment and apparently it is an accepted thing that the water in the building is brown and yellow. According to my RA, this is a characteristic of the town I live in.

The only "clean" water we get is a water filter at the zeroth floor of our building where transparent water comes out.

Other than that the water that comes out of the tap, the kitchen, the shower, and the toilet bowl is light yellowish-brown water. I haven't done enough research as the cause of this problem.

Boiling water doesn't seem to change the colour either (is this even possible?). I for one cannot live like this, so I am asking the community here if they know a household method to remove the discoloration from the water.

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If you write to/email your local water company, they might be able/willing to tell you exactly what the local significant impurities are, which would help you devise a strategy or reassure you. – Aesin Oct 24 '12 at 18:35
If you want to try be a scientist, do some research on which compounds are present in the ground near you. Take copper for example. If you let a sample of water with cupric compounds it will leave a cyan smudge. Tell us what you find out. – Fiire Oct 25 '12 at 2:34
Not enough info. I personally recommend to ask you water company - they should keep track on what impurities are present in the water. After that, post their comments and we shall see, what can be done. I personally remember one lake I camped nearby in youth with yellow water which resulted from dominant bog water feeding of the lake. This yellowish color was very persistent. – permeakra Nov 9 '12 at 7:14

1 Answer

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A simple test you can do is to boil a large amount of the water and see if a sediment is left in the vessel. This will tell you certain things about you contaminant.

  • Is it particulate? We expect so because a filter is removing the contaminant.
  • Is it's boiling point below that of water?

If you get a residue what is it's state? I'm expecting a solid, I dont anticipate a coloured liquid that is miscible in water with a boiling point higher than water.

  • Does it burn? How does it burn? Colour of flame? Further residue?

I'd also try adding a colourless surfactant to the water, does it remain coloured?

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