A western Iowa city that has been dealing with brown water for almost a year says it has finally found a fix. Onawa’s water has been a brownish reddish color due to moderately high levels of iron and manganese. State environmental officials say the main impact of the manganese is it makes the water look bad.
The city started treating its water with a chemical compound called sodium permanganate about one week ago. Onawa’s Water Treatment Plant Operator David Richardson says they’ve seen immediate improvements.
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Richardson says it could take a while to clear all the manganese out of some of the water lines.
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Onawa has a population around three-thousand.