On the night of August 23 to 24, tap water in residents’ homes in Taocun Town, Qixia City, Yantai, Shandong Province, flowed out black as ink and foul-smelling. (Online photo)
[People News] On the night of August 23 to 24, residents in Taocun Town, Qixia City, Yantai, Shandong Province, found black, foul-smelling water flowing from their taps—dark as ink. According to an announcement from the local water company, the problem was caused by a burst water pipe that made the supply turbid. Netizens, however, did not buy the explanation, accusing the water company of fabricating excuses. Some even joked that the water could be compared to Hangzhou’s infamous “sewage water.”
Multiple netizens reported the issue through social media. In videos they shared, the tap water was visibly black and emitted a pungent odour that lingered for a long time.
On the 24th, some residents reported that the tap water still smelled bad, forcing them to purchase bottled water to meet daily needs.
That same day, the Taocun Town government issued a notice: “The problem of murky and black tap water was due to a sudden rupture in the water plant’s supply pipeline, which caused activated carbon sediment from the water tower and pipes to be flushed into the main network due to pressure changes. The town government immediately directed the water company to carry out emergency repairs in accordance with the contingency plan, and the damaged pipeline has now been fixed.” The announcement also stated that normal water supply was expected to resume around 8 p.m. on the 24th.
But residents expressed disbelief in the official explanation:
“If the pipe bursts, there should be a water outage, not black water.”
“Keep making things up.”
“How does a burst pipe turn water black?”
“That place doesn’t produce petroleum, does it?”
“So a burst pipe means an octopus swam in?”
“If they test this, I bet the results will be ‘qualified.’ Who wants to bet?”
“No worries—any lab test they release will be 100% ‘qualified.’”
“How does this compare to Hangzhou?”
“Hangzhou… comforting, isn’t it?”
Just last month, many residents of Yuhang District in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, reported that their tap water smelled foul, was discoloured, and contained dark sediments—suspected to be sewage. The local water company denied the allegation, claiming the odour came from “thioether compounds produced by anaerobic decomposition of algae under certain natural climatic conditions.” The denial of sewage contamination sparked enormous controversy.
(First published by People News) △
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