Get rid of the brown water

Discolored water, or “brown water”, is an annoyance and a concern for many building owners. Even if the drinking water is bacteriologically safe and meets the requirements of the Drinking Water Regulations, it can still be discolored and have an undesirable taste.

What is stormwater?

During periods of heavy rain or when the snow melts, much of the water goes into the ground. What remains on the surface is called stormwater. Only 5% of stormwater goes into the ground where we have paved surfaces, such as courtyards, sidewalks and so on.

This is particularly noticeable after heavy rainfall. The water does not have time to penetrate the ground, but runs on the surface instead. As we all know, climate change brings with it extreme weather, such as “Jakob”, which ravaged Western Norway in the fall of 2024. Not all wastewater systems are dimensioned for this.

When stormwater mixes with the municipal wastewater system, it becomes wastewater. If large amounts of water are involved, this can show up as discolored water in your tap.

Sometimes it passes

In other cases, the discoloration is due to the municipality having flushed through the external water supply network. This can cause corrosion and humus to loosen and mix with the water. The solution for building owners is normally to let the water run until clear water comes out of the taps, but for some buildings the discoloration becomes a permanent problem. If this occurs, flushing will have little effect and result in wasted time and unnecessary water consumption.

Wear and tear on the sanitary equipment

Permanently discolored (brown) water can be an indication of too high a content of iron, humus and the like in the pipes. In addition to negative reactions from users, this leads to greater wear and tear on sanitary equipment and higher maintenance costs.

Gentle and effective

To overcome such a problem, Apurgo first carries out a survey to uncover probable causes. If this mapping indicates it, we carry out a pipe wash of the tap water system with an effective cleaning agent that is gentle on the pipes. The cleaning agent is not harmful to health or the environment, and is very easily biodegradable.

In addition, Apurgo can advise on the installation of filter solutions where there is a need for this.

APURGOClean

The APURGOClean mobile pump solution is robust, flexible and can be adapted to different types of buildings. We have both plumbing, biology and chemistry expertise, which ensures that we find the right and most effective method to solve your problem. With clean pipes, you get good water quality again.

– Clean drinking water at the tap and good wastewater management are essential for the functioning of society, writes Maria Barrio, Head of Research at our partner SINTEF.