Cloudy Tap Water: Cold Weather, Cold Pipes, Visible Air in the Water (TheWaterBlog)

Feb.10, 2009 in Science

(Feb. 9, 2009, The Water Blog, PortlandOnline)

Thanks to @yashkaur, one of the bureau’s Twitter friends, I learned something very new and interesting about water today.

This morning, my Twitter search for “Portland” + “tap water” revealed the following Tweet:

“Is it just me or Portland’s tap water is getting more and more cloudy over the days!”

I was immediately concerned for @yashkaur and direct messaged her to please contact me so we could resolve this issue.

Indeed, she got right in contact with me and, in turn, I put her in touch with our Water Quality Group who told her the following:

“…Cloudy water is not uncommon when the weather is cold. When you run a glass of water and let it sit does it clear from the bottom up? [If so] This is an indication of air in the water which manifests itself as tiny bubbles and is not harmful. You say that you noticed this about a month ago and temperatures were quite cold in the [Bull Run] watershed and as the water runs through cold pipes into warm houses the air becomes visible.”

Who knew that cold weather could create cloudy water? …and it’s all just natural phenomenon; certainly nothing to worry about!

Jennie Day-Burget
Public Information Officer

(Original Post Here)