New Yorkers are reporting discolored tap water. Is it safe to drink it?

Some Harlem residents are finding something unsettling when they turn on the tap: brown, murky water gushing from faucets and filling bathtubs. The sight alone has been enough to send people to the corner deli for bottled water.

“When I got up this morning, I turned it on I was like really shocked—it’s totally brown,” Harlem resident Rose Miller told NY1. “It’s not even light, it’s brown.”

The city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) insists the water is safe to drink, attributing the discoloration to naturally occurring minerals—mainly iron and manganese—from the Croton Reservoir System, which supplies much of Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. When hydrants are flushed or water mains are disturbed, those sediments can loosen, tinting the water anywhere from yellowish to coffee-colored.

According to the DEP, the problem isn’t contamination but chemistry. Heat can make the minerals more visible, meaning your hot shower might look worse than a glass of cold water.

“Our testing indicates that NYC’s drinking water is safe to drink and that the discoloration has been caused by naturally occurring minerals in our upstate reservoir, which are higher than usual due to seasonal changes,” a spokesperson told PIX11.

Still, that hasn’t reassured everyone.

“It looks like poop water to be honest,” one resident told NY1.

“Obviously we can’t drink it because we don’t know exactly what’s in it,” Miller added.

Others, like local gym owner William Marshall, say the murkiness has lingered long enough to disrupt daily life.

“It’s a little bit of an inconvenience because we’re paying for water versus having water we naturally have in our own home,” he said to PIX11.

The DEP has made operational changes to draw from different parts of the reservoir and is flushing hydrants in the area to help clear the system. Residents who notice discolored water are being urged to call 311.

For now, the agency maintains that, while the hue might be off-putting, it’s not harmful. But try telling that to someone staring down a brown bathtub.