Pollutant in drinking water what to do ?

Question

I called the water department at 10 am august 11th and told them theres somthing wrong with the water . you cant really tell by the naked eye but if you take a white bowel and fill it up with water and go outside where the light is bright you can see brown particles of somthing swirling in the water. and the particles eventually sink to the bottom of the bowel leaving a slimy black residue . the lady who answered the phone at the water department said they were somthing to do with a pipe i cant remember what she said exactly somthing like doing maitnance on a pipe i dunno . youd think theyd have a water ban at the very least it doesnt sound safe drinking brown water with black slime in it . well now its august 12th 4:38 pm and the water is the same as yesterday and there is no water ban and people are still drinking the brown water with black stuff in it . is this normal can anyone offer me some advice as im lost here on what to do and whats going on .

Answer 1

Boil your water first, and them let it settle, and don't shake up. SOP.

Answer 2

Most likely you are seeing iron deposits from disturbed piping.  This happens regularly when maintenance is done on water distribution pipes.  

The black "slime" sounds like iron-oxidizing bacteria.  These bacteria are non-threatening to humans, but they can lower the water's chlorine levels and give other bad bacteria a chance to survive.  

If you're in the USA, the penalties to your water dept for not reporting unsafe water are very severe.  If your health/water dept says its safe to drink, then you should be okay.  

You can buy an activated carbon filter at Lowes, Walmart, etc that should remove most of the color and sediment.  These filters are pretty cheap.