Poor quality tap water. Where to complain about bad tap water. If there is no reaction

Many users are faced with a situation where rusty water begins to flow from their taps, unsuitable for use. If such a problem occurs extremely rarely, then it's okay, but if rusty tap water begins to flow with enviable constancy, various actions must be taken to fix the problem. And in this case, the most effective way to solve the problem is to file a complaint with the responsible organizations.

Why rusty water flows from the tap - the main reasons

Among the main causes of rusty tap water are:

1. A high level of deterioration of communications responsible for the water supply of consumers.
2. Water supply with precipitation, which accumulates and leads to the appearance of rust in the water.
3. Poor water treatment. Since the water contains a significant amount of metal particles, it must be thoroughly purified before being supplied to end users.
4. Planned outages. The public utilities check each house before and at the end of the heating season for deterioration of utilities, and perform the necessary repair actions. After that, rusty water may appear in the taps, but this problem disappears rather quickly.

Rusty water comes out after turning off the water - why

Many of our readers are concerned about the question, why does rusty water come out after turning off the water? It is worth noting that This phenomenon is recognized as a norm at the legislative level., however, provided that during this period the utilities perform a scheduled inspection of pipelines.

Since most of the pipes are made of metal, rust forms on the surface due to oxidative processes. When the pipe is completely filled with water, oxidation is much slower. As soon as the water supply is turned off, the process accelerates sharply, and within a short period of time, rust deposits form on the inner surface of the pipe. After turning on the pressure, it is washed off, and therefore, during the first minutes after turning on the water, we have the opportunity to observe rust.

Is it possible to wash in rusty water

Consumers are interested, can you wash in rusty water. As numerous data of analysts show, rust is always present in water. If the concentration is not more than 0.3 mg per 1 liter of liquid, it is impossible to see rust. Such water is quite suitable for consumption, and you can also wash with it. However, experts recommend that when drinking such water, boil it first.

If the concentration of rust is in the range of 0.4-0.8 mg, it is absolutely impossible to use water as drinking water, but it is still suitable for washing dishes.

If the rust in the water is pronounced, and the water itself has a yellow or orange color, then washing with it is categorically contraindicated.

At the same time, it is also worth remembering that rusty water can seriously damage household appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers and kettles. Therefore, it should be ensured that dirty water comes into contact with household appliances as little as possible.

How to clean

The only option for cleaning rusty water is to install special filter elements. The filter will retain rust particles, thereby allowing the consumer to enjoy clean water. However, do not forget that filters also need care, and they must be changed or cleaned at regular intervals. Otherwise, harmful microorganisms may occur that adversely affect human health.

Speaking about how to clean rusty water, do not forget about settling.

To do this, it must be poured into a container and left for a while. After a few hours, a layer of rust forms on the bottom of the container. The water can be carefully drained, being careful not to stir up the cloudy sediment, and it can later be used for washing dishes, but in no case for drinking.

When to Complain

Every consumer must know where to complain about rusty water. In accordance with the current legal framework, even the irregular appearance of rusty water is a violation of consumer rights. The fact is that each user pays monthly for the water used, and in the case of rust, he drains it, thereby losing his money.

The exception is situations when a scheduled inspection of water communications is performed. After repair and replacement of damaged areas, rust residues enter the water, and may reach the end consumer. According to the approved rules, this is the only reason when a small amount of rusty water in the taps is allowed. If the appearance of rust in the water is not associated with planned work, in this case, you should write a claim.

Where to complain?

If the appearance of rusty water is irregular, and has isolated cases, then it is worth going with a claim to the management company. The same action should be taken if the quality of the supplied water has noticeably deteriorated after changing the pipes or cleaning the boiler.

If the management company ignores the claims of citizens, or the problem continues for a long period of time, then filing a complaint with the resource supply structure (in this case, a water utility) will bring greater efficiency. In such a situation, the necessary analyzes of drinking water will be carried out, and the causes of pollution will be clarified.

If the water utility cannot help in any way, then it is worth writing complaints to Rospotrebnadzor and law enforcement agencies. However, as practice shows, most often the water utility and the management company try to prevent such a development of events, and therefore promptly respond to citizens' appeals.

Proof of

It is quite natural that in addition to the claim, the consumer must provide evidence of the violation. First of all, this is a photo and video material, which shows that dirty or rusty water flows from the tap, and evidence that there is a bad smell.

If, at the request of the user, any studies or analyzes on water quality were carried out, then their results should also be attached to the application.

In addition, as evidence, the user can attach to the complaint an agreement with the management company, and a utility bill for water.

How to file a complaint, what you need to specify, sample

1. There is no single sample complaint, so you can write it in any form.
2. It is necessary to indicate in the text of the complaint the reason why the user decided to file a complaint.
3. You should also indicate the facts of the supply of low-quality water (with the exception of cases when planned work is carried out on water pipes). Additionally, you can specify other reasons. So, if the faucet remains cold, although hot water should flow, this is also a violation.
4. The user has the right to demand compensation in the form of compensation for moral damage and the cost of damaged property (damaged filters, a broken dishwasher, washing machine, etc.), a refund of the money that was spent on the purchase of bottled water. In addition, since the service is of inadequate quality, the consumer may be exempted from paying for water.

What to do next if there is no adequate response to the claim

If no action is taken, and rusty water continues to flow from the tap, then written statements should be submitted to several higher authorities, including the prosecutor's office, the district court, Rospotrebnadzor and the State Housing Inspectorate.

However, it is worth noting that it is possible to file a complaint with these structures only if there is an appropriate evidence base. In particular, if any studies were carried out by independent experts, their results should be attached to the application.

Sometimes the utilities supplying water to our house or apartment don't do their job and we have to find out why rusty water comes out of the faucet. Naturally, there is no hope for a quick solution to the issue, so everyone should know how to at least partially purify water and make it conditionally suitable for use.

Causes and consequences

Factors causing pollution

There may be several answers to the question why yellow water flows from the tap or why the liquid has an unpleasant taste / odor:

• First, the problem may lie in the source itself.. If the water intake is carried out from a river, lake or reservoir, then the quality of the water depends on the state of the reservoir. So, if a large amount of pollution gets there, for example, when discharged from industrial enterprises or man-made accidents, no treatment plant can cope.
• However, the water treatment plants themselves also work far from ideal.. If outdated equipment is installed in your area, then the result of its work will be unpredictable: today more or less drinkable water comes out of the tap, and tomorrow it comes out a cloudy liquid with a distinct smell of ammonia or hydrogen sulfide.
• Finally, do not discount the communications themselves. From the water treatment plant to your apartment, water passes several tens of kilometers through pipes of very different quality, and if the pipelines in the house are rusted, get ready for oxide flakes and an unpleasant aftertaste.

Note! If you have a question why water does not flow from the tap, then here the matter is also, most likely, in the pipes. As a rule, shutdowns are performed either to replace a worn section or to eliminate an accident.

The actual list of reasons explaining the poor quality of tap water is limited. However, in order to take appropriate measures, it is worthwhile to figure out what kind of water flows from the tap.

How to identify low quality water

Of course, the enterprises providing water supply and sanitary and epidemiological stations themselves should also be involved in determining the quality of water entering houses or apartments. However, obtaining data from laboratory tests is quite difficult, and the price of expertise in a private company is quite high. So for a rough estimate, you should focus on external signs:

In the photo - a characteristic yellow precipitate of iron oxides

However, these signs are only indirect, and therefore the instruction for identifying the nature of pollution cannot be considered universal. It is still desirable to control the composition by laboratory methods, since neither heavy metals nor microorganisms can be determined by hand.

At the same time, the table above can serve as a hint if the deterioration in water quality has occurred suddenly. What to do in such a situation - we will tell below.

Ways to solve the problem

Administrative Methods

To begin with, we will try to force those people who should do it on duty to solve our problem. Naturally, for this you need to know where to complain - if rusty tap water comes out.

The sequence of actions is as follows:

• As soon as we have yellow water from the tap, we call the management company and demand that we either correct the situation or send a master to solve the problem (if it is related to the pipeline and is of a local nature). If your management company is attentive to its duties, a call should be enough.
• If we know that the organization responsible for the operation of the house will not be in a hurry, we submit an application in writing. In it, we must indicate the start date for the supply of low-quality water, and also clearly indicate the requirement to restore normal water supply.
• The next step is to submit an application to the department of Rospotrebnazor, which deals with communal hygiene. The application must include full passport details and contact numbers so that you can be contacted to clarify the situation.

Usually this is enough. If the water continues to flow with a characteristic color or smell, we go to court, duplicating statements to the prosecutor's office and the State. Housing inspection.

There are several nuances here:

• As grounds, we indicate Article 29 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On the Protection of Consumer Rights".
• In the application, we present the requirements to restore normal water supply, recalculate the payment and compensate for material damage (if any).

Note! Before the court decision and its entry into force, you must pay at the established rates, otherwise your defaulter status will be used against you in court, and the decision on recalculation or compensation will not be made in your favor.

• If possible, we perform water analysis in a private laboratory and attach the results of the analysis to the appeal.

However, today management companies are trying not to bring the case to court. But you need to know how to properly protect your rights!

Artisanal methods

Naturally, while there is a correspondence with the authorities, the yellow water from the tap does not go anywhere. And for its use it is necessary to take measures that will allow at least partially optimize the composition.

If the problem is not pronounced, we proceed as follows:

• In a favorable epidemiological situation, water can simply be defended. To do this, pour it into an open container with a wide mouth and leave it for at least 5-6 hours (or better for half a day). During this time, chlorine will evaporate from the liquid, and solids will settle to the bottom.
• Boiling can be used together with settling. Heating up to 100 0 C for several minutes kills most pathogenic microbes, and reduces the concentration of chlorides.

• On the other hand, when boiling water, the concentration of salts increases, and formaldehyde is also formed.. That is why experts do not recommend boiling water more than once and for more than five minutes, and after boiling it is advised to stand at least until it cools completely.

Using filters

And yet today it is very difficult to imagine a situation in which tap water will be used without passing through a filter - even the simplest one.

• For domestic use, it is easiest to purchase a filter in the form of a jug. Its performance is relatively small, but it is quite simple to use it. The main thing is not to forget to change the cartridges in time, because after the expiration of their service life they will not purify, but, on the contrary, pollute the water.
• , so popular in recent times, are less effective. They more or less cope with the removal of mechanical particles, but to effectively combat organic matter and salts, filter elements should be changed at least once a week.
• Finally, the best solution would be to install a filter column that provides multi-stage purification. Such systems are quite expensive, but they allow you to get relatively clean water in almost any situation.

Conclusion

Having figured out what to do - if rusty tap water comes out, we can prepare for such unpleasant situations. That is why the simplest filter is worth having even if everything is in order with the plumbing, and no problems are foreseen ().

For a more detailed study of this issue, you should watch the video in this article.

It is necessary to know that under the influence of high pressure and water speed, sediments deposited on pipes, solid particles of rust are washed out. In addition, there are so-called "dead-end lines" located in the private sectors of cities, where the pipeline was laid long ago by the owners of private houses. This also degrades the quality of the water.

Of course, this is not normal. After all, every tenant or homeowner pays for utilities of good quality, including water supply.

Where to go

If the phenomenon of poor-quality water in the water supply system is rare, then it is enough to contact the management company. The same should be done if the water quality has changed after cleaning the boiler or replacing pipes in an emergency area.

When such a problematic situation continues for a long period and the management company ignores the statements of the tenants, then you should resort to contacting the local water utility to test drinking water. These studies are carried out jointly with the management company.

There are situations when the persons responsible for these studies are slow to respond to citizens' requests. According to the Federal Law, you can send an appeal to the Office of Rospotrebnadzor to the Hygiene Supervision Department. Specialists of the territorial department will conduct proper studies and laboratory tests of water quality. Samples will be taken from the applicants' taps. As a result, the causes of water pollution will be clarified.

If there is no reaction

If no action is taken by the above authorities, then written statements should be submitted to several authorities: the prosecutor's office, the court, the Ministry of Rospotrebnadzor, the State Housing Inspectorate. If there are results of some analyzes and conclusions of independent specialists, then copies of them must be attached to the applications.

There is an erroneous opinion that it is not necessary to pay for poor-quality water, for water that does not comply with SanPiN. Before not paying, you must prove the discrepancy. Only by proving this in a judicial and legal manner, you can return your money and force the perpetrators to pay from causing damage to citizens.

To file a lawsuit against a water utility, a single customer and a service organization must collect the following necessary documents:
1. Service agreement with the relevant organization.
2. All acts or certified copies. which have been compiled.
3. Conclusions of analyzes, if any.

The requirements of the court must fully cover all claims, otherwise the compensation will be partial. Need to demand:
1. Restore the quality of water in the water supply.
2. Exempt the plaintiff from payment for low-quality water. The basis is Article 29 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Protection of Consumer Rights".
3. If filters were installed, then reimburse the culprit for their cost.
4. Compensation for moral damage. This item must be justified by material costs and moral suffering.
5. Compensation for losses associated with possible damage to property, expenses for drinking water, since the rights of citizens were violated. Reason - Article 15, paragraph 2 of the Civil Code of Russia "... restoration of the violated right ..."

But phone calls and empty verbal threats will not lead to anything.