Brown water in Maple Shade has some residents seeing red

The Facebook group set up by Anne Flynn for fellow residents of Maple Shade to register complaints has grown to 1,600 members.

A number of them share her concerns about a problem that she says has become chronic and could be a health issue: The water coming out of their faucets is various shades of brown.

Flynn says she and her husband, Dave, have identified 87 addresses troubled by the problem. She fears a cancer she was diagnosed with might be linked to the water.

She and other residents said they have had to use filters for their drinking water. Flushing the lines does not always work, one said, noting he once let the water run for three hours to no avail.

Thursday evening, as more than 100 residents gathered at the municipal complex to complain about the water, township officials pinned the issue mainly on the age of the pipes, with the discoloration possibly caused by iron, but said there was no health issue.

"There's certainly a significant area of [Maple Shade] that's cast-iron pipes, which over time contributes to building up scaling on the pipes," said Dave Dedian, a senior area manager at Woodard & Curran, the engineering firm that manages the water utility in the township.

Although the bottles of water that Flynn and others presented at the meeting looked unsavory - residents used phrases such as "bad iced tea" and "chocolate" to describe the color - it was unlikely they were toxic, officials suggested.

Dennis Yoder, director of engineering at Remington & Vernick, the township's engineers, said the water that Maple Shade receives from the Potomac-Raritan-Magothy aquifer and from New Jersey American Water after being treated contains only 0.05 to 0.07 milligrams of iron per liter, putting it squarely in the safe-to-drink territory.

"It's more of a nuisance thing" than a health threat, Yoder said in an interview. The dirty water can stain clothes, for instance.

Flynn said that the issue has persisted for five or six years, and that she has been given various reasons when she has inquired about the source of the brown water - that it is due to flushing of township mains, or broken water mains, or the opening of hydrants at fires or construction sites.

"I'm asking that you take this seriously this time and . . . do something about the water in this town before we have a really big crisis on our hands," Flynn urged officials.

"Obviously, this is more than just social media hype," said Mayor Lou Manchello, who said he had discovered dark-colored water in his own home.

To solve the problem, he said he had proposed several changes, including independent water testing and better communication about flushing and construction dates.

"We do replace the infrastructure," the mayor said. "We can't replace the whole town at one time."

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zmiller@philly.com.