A Canadian town has been forced to apologise after its residents found their tap water had turned fluorescent pink.
Residents of the town of Onoway in Alberta began to complain to the town office on Monday with concerns about the safety of their drinking water which had turned pink overnight.
The discolouration was the result of a valve malfunction at the local water treatment works, which caused an oversupply of potassium permanganate, a common water-treatment chemical, into the water distribution system.
According to the World Health Organisation (WTO), the chemical can cause skin irritation, but there were no reports of side effects in the town and the water had lost its fluorescent colouring by Tuesday morning.
Mayor Dale Krasnow said the strange colouring posed no risk to public health, but admitted town “could have done a better job communicating what was going on” to its residents.
