April 22,2009
The following topics were discussed at the Negishi Town Hall Meeting held

Q: Is it safe to drink the brown water coming out of my faucet?

---

(OIC): The water is periodically checked to ensure its safe to drink. Let the water run for about a minute. You should use cold water for cooking and drinking.

Not to stir the pot, but THIS DOES NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION! I WANT TO KNOW IF THIS BROWN WATER IS SAFE FOR ME TO DRINK, MY CHILD TO DRINK, AND MY DOG TO DRINK! HAS THE BROWN WATER BEEN TESTED????!!!! :angry: Way to duck out of the actual question. It's not a matter of "just letting the water run," because somedays THAT DOESNT FIX THE PROBLEM! We went a WHOLE weekend once with water like this, I need to know if it is safe to drink, let alone safe/although disgusting, to shower in! LETS GET REAL HERE PEOPLE!!!!!

Hello Ash,

I agree with you.. These questions were asked at a Negishi Town Hall Meeting. I took them from the seahawk newspaper on April 22, 2009 and posted them to the website for people to discuss. The OIC answered I guess these questions, and some do not provide accurate for full detail answers. I think the best solution is to contact the base OIC office, or the commands representatives. Every base has them.. I will try to find some contact info for you for Negishi..

Here is where I received these Negishi Base Q's and A's...

http://d2zt3q38571g1u.cloudfront.ne...051509.pdf

Just check the 2nd page for the PDF and you will find it..

It was in the May 15th, 2009 Seahawk Newspaper.

You can find a complete listing of them under the news category for Yokosukabase.com

Please let me know if you need any additional assistance.

Usually brown colored water is due to inactivity (i.e. water standing in the pipes for long periods) which is actually rust, running the water until it clears will correct the problem.
if you have a recurring brown water problem then there is a leak in your water system that is admitting dirt and contaminates. This is not normal or acceptable. You will have to hammer at housing continually if you want this fixed, it cost money which they don't want to spend.

Agree with Slickster and to make a point fill a transparent pitcher with the water, take it to housing with you, ask if they would like a glass to drink...

I believe that would make your point, I may be a little aggressive on this but sometimes that will work better than other ways if you want action.

if its brown drink it down if its black send it back

Hi Ash

I really don't drink the water that comes out of the taps anyway unless I boil it first for the baby's bottles or for tea/coffee, I only ever really use it for washing up dishes and bathing. I would keep a supply of bottled water if you are worried about it, and that way you know your baby is getting fresh, clean water. But call housing if its a continual problem as you could def. have a leak like was said above and its not nice having to bathe in it or even give it to poor Giz ;-)
We just recently had a leak fixed at our housing site and the water was off for the whole day though but housing will notify you and your neighbors which day this will occur so you can pre-plan! If housing give you a problem, def. take a glass to them and ask them if they want a drink like the guy above suggested!
I hope you are feeling better!

I have the same problem out in Negishi too, the water is like this all over. I suspect the piping is very very old, they need to re-do all the piping or something. Running the water does not fix it, it does get a little clearer but it does not go away. kinda scary, who knows what is in there!

who knows what is in there!

Hopefully you never find out... Might scare you... From what the base said back, its perfectly safe, and they do their tests.. I had friends do tests on water when I use to be on the kitty hawk.. Well let me tell you.. There were times it tasted like straight GARBAGE from the drinking fountains onboard.. I once we down there on the boat and asked the guys.. Why is the water completely blue coming out of our drinking fountain in the berthing? They said, blue...??? and like 4 guys just started laughing.. I got the hint.. Thats the navy for you.. I hate to say it, but you may have some junior guys being the ones going and doing these tests on the base. You never know what type of guy is out doing it.. He comes back, tells his senior chief.. All clear senior.. thats about all she wrote.. He sends email back to negishi OIC, and says 2 thumbs up.. I just hope one day no one gets hurt from the water.

I don't believe the water on Negishi is safe to drink, nor do I believe testing is done correctly. I have seen some of this "testing" when I was on shore duty in and old facility. The water was brown there too so the testers who are part of NAVFAC will run that water for 30 minutes or more and test it again. They don't want "problems". It all comes down to money. Can you imagine the cost of re-doing all the plumbling in all the housing? Your talking millions of bucks, aint happening and peoples families health will suffer. Wierd thing is when you get slowly poisoned over many years - your not going to see the results of that right away and it would be very very difficult to pin point it, heavy metal poisoning is very hard to pin point when and where you got it but you will know you have it. I am not saying there will be heavy metal poisoning but that is just one example of what may be in the brown liquid flowing from the tap. I guess it is like going to a foreign country and everyone says, "Don't drink the water". Maybe they could throw some extra money in out pay, we can call it, BWA - "Bottled Water Allowance"

Glad I saw this thread before we transfered to Japan. I don't think we'll be considering housing in Negishi as our residence. Sounds like this problem needs some serious attention. If enough people get together and complain or raise some awareness about this it may get some attention of the higher ups. That's how the incinerator outside the fence in Atsugi ended up getting shut down. It took a few years and some investigating but the Navy I believe ended up getting it shut down and taken care of.
This is a huge quality of life issue and should not be tolerated or accepted. No one should have to run the water from the tap for 10 min just to clear it up. Get some people together and go see the OIC, if nothing is done escalate it until something gets done. Don't accept the "run around" either. If you don't see results in a decent time frame take it to the press. That usually gets the attention of people that can get something done, as they don't like negative press in the military.

Good to know we still haven't gotten a friggin' straight answer! I'm just gonna go with my instincts and assume it is RUSTY WATER! Which I will not be drinking, nor will anyone in my family, including my 2 dogs! No thanks.

A lady I know gets actual chunks, like rocks coming from the faucet. Plus when someone uses the potty, the person in the kitchen can smell it. How's that for yucky? They don't drink their water either, and housing has yet to fix the problem.

What about yellow snow?

Oh Keith.. XD

Sad fact but I have never used tap water for consumption in military housing...sadly there have been too many incidents where later the water in military housing was found to contain dangerous/harmful elements (Camp Lejeune, I believe, was the most recent). In Negishi, the OIC did inform residents that the hot tap water should NOT be used for consumption at all. I agree with AZ that people should get together to "complain and raise awareness" so that changes can be made...but I must admit I was just relieved that the OIC was honest enough to admit you should not drink/use the hot water.