I work for a facilities maintenance office and we are getting complaints that water from the kitchen faucets in office buildings (which is essentially used for drinking water or coffee making water) is discolored and has a slightly foul odor. We've begun to install individual water filtration systems under the sinks of each office suite kitchen but it is getting costly. Especially when considering the future periodic preventative maintenance costs to replace the filters as we have 48 kitchen sinks total in four identical office buildings.

We thought one solution may be to install a carbon water filtration system at the supply source to flow purified water straight to all the sinks from one initial location. But is it pointless to install a filtration system at the water source for a 17 year old office building? I'm concerned that flowing purified water through old scaled pipes will defeat the purpose and still cause some contamination in the drinking water. Further, replacing those old pipes seems costly. Lastly, we don't need to have toilet water or landscaping water purified, so installing a filtration system at the source solely for drinking water may be overkill?

We can keep going with the individual water filters at each sink but was hoping to find a more efficient and affordable option if possible.

We have 4 identical three-story office buildings,12 kitchen sinks in each building for a total of 48 sinks. Each building has their own water supply closet. The buildings were built in 1996 in South Texas.

Thank you in advance for your advice. It is greatly appreciated.

I don't think it would be "pointless" installing central filtration system serving entire building.

You can install, and maintain, your own central filtration system or you can sub it out to one of the companies that specialize in filtration systems, like Culligan ( in my area ). Such a company will come, will install all connections for new filters and installs filters of correct size for each building. Then, they will re-visit every month-or-so to replace filters. You are billed monthly for the service.

As far as scales in your pipes go - they should eventually flush out. However, scales usually don't get loose on its own. They will get loose with some kind of vibration in the system or sudden changes in pressure.

Discoloration may be coming from some rusting pipe or tank that is part of the system - a.I. hot water heater, hot water storage tank etc.

I would drain hot water heater all the way to the bottom to see if I am getting any rust or sediment. I you do, than replace water heater. Same goes with hot water storage tank. Commercial hot water heaters don't last too long as they work very hard to keep up with the demand. That's the reason they usually come with no more than 3 year manufacturer's warranty.

Is there Copper Plumbing in the building ? Is water heater on the roof ? Is there hot water circulating pump installed ? When was the last time you've replaced hot water heaters and hot water storage tanks ? Do you have a good maintenance men to take care of the plumbing ? Any leaks in recent years ? You say: "old pipes"... what makes you believe they are "old pipes?"

Back to you / Milo

Two of the four buildings just got new water heaters and the other two are on their way. So hopefully if it is rust from those water heaters the new systems will clear it up.

The water heater is on the ground floor of each building and services 3 floors.

The plumbing is still copper plumbing.

There is a hot water pump installed.

Maintenance is done quarterly on things like that, which I'm afraid will add up for 48 sinks requiring 48 filter replacements every quarter.

I believe there have been some leaking issues but I'm not positive. I wish I had better information but our master plumber is out for a long time which is why I'm coming here for answers because I have no experience with plumbing.

I will definitely look into the water heaters possibly being the cause of any discoloration issues. Thank you for your insight.

I'd start by trying to determine if this issue is something that is strictly connected to just cold water, just hot water, or both hot and cold water supplies. For example, look inside the toilet tanks... any sediment build-up? Take clear glass vases and fill one with hot water only, then flush the faucet with cold water for 5 seconds and then fill another clear glass vase with cold water... check for floaters and sediment and see how long water takes to clear, etc. Compare the hot vs the cold...

I'd also get the water tested... usually a free service.

Mark