I live in a housing complex. Sometimes our water runs out of the bath tub or the sink brown. Can someone tell me what this means. Is it unhealthy for us to use the water? Is there some action that I should take? Is there something I can do to make it stop running brown?

Thanks,
Lisa

Brown or reddish brown? Likely rust, much harder on the insides of your plumbing than yours. Also bad for white clothes in the laundry. If others are having similar problems, you need to make a joint complaint to whoever you pay for water. A whole house water filter should fix it too. I am on my own well and have the same problem. I use a 5 micron charcoal taste and odor filter, 2 for about $9 at Ace Hardware. Big pain, in about 2 weeks my water pressure drops way off, and I have to change the filter.

It most likely is rust from your pipes, and it probably occurs after little or no flow occurs the your plumbing system. Rust is composed of iron oxides which aren't particularly harmful for humans, however, there's no guarantee that that's the only thing in there, so perhaps you can take a sample to the city and see what they have to say and whether they're willing to test it to see what's inside. For the time being, all I can recommend is to let the water run before you drink it, especially if it's coming out brown. Sooner than later, your plumbing will have to be worked on.

Tony Orozco
-Soil & Water Scientist with a pretty in depth knowledge of aqueous chemistry

The rust would be coming from your own pipes only if you have old galvanized plumbing. Most houses built in the last 40 years have copper or plastic.