Woman shocked as tap water runs bright blue after outage

Anne Gray. Photo released January 21 2025. A woman was stunned when her tap water flowed bright blue after a five-day citywide outage for planned maintenance.Anne Gray, 44, discovered the bizarre phenomenon on December 17, 2024, when water was restored to her home after the planned citywide disruption.The outage, which began on December 13, was announced in advance as part of a major maintenance project to improve water capacity in the city. Since Anne’s reservoir is one of the last in the system, she was regularly checking her taps to see when it would return.

By Sejal Mandal

A woman was stunned when she opened the tap in her kitchen and the water was BLUE.

Anne Gray, 44, had been without water for five days after a planned citywide disruption.

But when the water flow was restored to her home, it came out blue.

Video filmed on Dec. 17, 2024 shows water running into the kitchen sink, clearly revealing its bright blue color against a white plate.

Anne, a business coach from Johannesburg, South Africa, said: “ When I turned on the tap and couldn’t believe it. The water was bright blue!

Woman shocked as tap water runs bright blue after outage

Blue water coming Anne Gray's tap in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Anne Gray via SWNS)

"My first thought was ‘What on earth is in this water?’

“The same thing happened in all the bathrooms and I was worried it might not be safe to drink.â€

The outage, which began on Dec. 13, was announced in advance as part of a major maintenance project to improve water capacity in the city.

According to Anne, the blue color was caused by oxidization in copper pipes during the outage, which created a bluish compound that flushed out after about 10 minutes.

Anne said: “It’s not something I’ve ever seen before.

“We’ve had sediment or cloudy water after outages but blue water? Never."

Despite the water returning to normal, Anne remained cautious and continued using her stored drinking water for another day.

Originally published on , part of the .