Black water pours from taps in Napier 4 Dec, 2017 9:01pm 2 minutes to read Napier residents shocked to find blackish-brown water pouring from their taps this afternoon have been reassured the water is now safe to drink.
The Napier City Council warned today the city’s water reserves could be about to run out and urged locals to use the precious liquid sparingly.
But this afternoon most couldn’t use their taps at all after it turned the colour of black coffee.
It comes days after Napier’s water tested positive for E.coli, with the council deciding to chlorinate the entire city’s supply.
We had no drinking water at all so we went down to the supermarket to get bottled water.
The supermarket was full of other people also buying water, Love said – and he claimed the shop had hiked the price of bottled water from 89c to $1.10.
Angry locals posted on the Napier council’s Facebook page, saying bottled water had run out at the supermarkets.
• Napier water levels "critically low", supply could run out tonight • Water crisis could grind city to halt • E.coli found again in Napier water supply Love said around 9pm the water had cleared up but was "a bit murky".
He had cautiously tasted the water and said it "just tastes like chlorine – you can’t taste any mud".
Love was frustrated that the council did not call for people to save water earlier.