Less than two years ago, Mackay was named as having "Australia's best-tasting tap water", but that honour has gone down the drain in recent weeks.
Bucasia resident Jade Hayward used to take the high quality of the city's water for granted. Afterall, Mackay's tap water was named Australia's best by the Water Industry Operators Association of Australia (WIOA) in 2019.
But last week, she became alarmed when she was running a bath for her children and noticed how discoloured the water was.
"I went in to check on the bath, the water was half full and it was … a rusty dirt brown," she said.
"You could still see the bottom of the bath, but it was still dirty to look at.
"The council came to our home and said it wasn't their issue, it was our issue."
Ms Hayward assumed the issue was caused by rusty pipes, but after her partner checked them throughout their property, they realised the issue was external as all their pipes were plastic.
"The fact they said it was our issue and they didn't test the water made me angry," she said.
Multiple reports of dirty water
Ms Hayward took to social media, posting to local community groups about the issue.
Dozens of people on social media across suburbs including South Mackay, the CBD and Beaconsfield also reported similar problems with water discolouration.
Mackay Regional Council has blamed the discolouration on heavy rainfall across the region over the past week.
"The extended rain period has made the river water dirtier and more difficult to treat," a council spokesperson said.
"Council has had to supplement the supply with bore water from the Nebo Road Water Treatment Plant.
"The bore water has a higher iron concentration than the river water and customers may be noticing a slight brown or cloudy discolouration in their water supply."
Water still safe to drink, says council
The spokesperson said despite the discolouration, the water continued to meet the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines and was safe to drink.
"Council conducts regular water quality testing and any results that don't meet the guideline values are reported to Queensland Health," the spokesperson said.
Rossarden, in north-east Tasmania, was awarded the title of "best drinking water in Australia" by WIOA in 2020.
