Family ‘disgusted’ by ‘black sludge’ coming from faucet

A family in Gardena, Calif., said Monday they were concerned about the safety of what looked and smelled like “black sludge and sediment” coming out of their water faucet.

Diane Morita took video of the black water coming from her tap and posted to it YouTube. She said it had happened several times before. The video also showed clear toilet water turning black as it was flushed.

“It’s disgusting,” Morita said of the dark liquid. “It looks like there’s charcoal in the water.”

She added that even when the water was clear, still had a strange odor.

“I don’t think anyone would drink this water,” she said, holding up a jar of the liquid.

Morita expressed concern over the water’s impact on her family’s health.

“We have one dog with cancer … one of my daughters has skin issues,” she said.

In a telephone interview, Kate Nutting of the Golden State Water Company told KTLA that the water was safe to use, even for drinking.

“I understand the customer’s concern,” said Nutting, the general manager of the company’s south west district. “We also are concerned about delivering discolored water to a customer.”

The company takes samples throughout the distribution area every week and all of their testing indicated the water was safe to drink, Nutting said.

Nutting told KTLA that Morita was the only complaint they had received.

But several neighbors said they too had contacted the water company during the past several months with similar concerns.

“Light brown, gooey, gobby, spiderweb stuff,” is how resident Charlotte Lynch described the water running from her tap.

Another homeowner, Emy Sebastian, said hers had small stones in it and smelled like a sewer.

One area resident who did not want to give her name provided a photo to KTLA showing a bathtub filled with the black liquid. She added that her daughter has recently developed skin rashes.

On Tuesday morning, Morita said the water had company agreed to pay for bottled water for the family and would bring a plumber to the house to check out the issue.