Napier City Council received close to 65 calls about the problem yesterday, mainly from Napier South, Mataruahou (Napier Hill) and the CBD. (File image) Photo: Supplied / Nicky Woodward
Napier has had a spike in brown water problems as the council tests out new water bores.
The city council is warning the discoloured water may come gushing out of the taps for some weeks yet.
A council spokesperson told RNZ it received close to 65 calls about the problem yesterday and a few more this morning.
Napier has had brown water problems for several years, since chlorine was introduced into the water supply.
It reacts with the naturally-occurring manganese, causing brown water to flow from the taps.
The council has previously said it could take two decades and cost nearly $300 million to remove chlorine from the water.
Yesterday's calls mainly came from Napier South, Mataruahou (Napier Hill) and the CBD.
The council was testing out new bores, which are expected to be operational next month.
"This is part of our final testing and will carry on for a couple more weeks,'' the council said.
"Although the water source in these bores is low in manganese, the testing dislodged some silt in the line.
"There are no health risks associated with the discoloured water. The best thing people can do is run their cold tap for 15-20 minutes, this will flush their system. If the issue continues please call our customer service team.''