Yellow drinking water coming from Bear Creek Reservoir

By Joe Johnson

Folks in counties surrounding the Athens area are turning on their kitchen taps and seeing yellow water coming out.

The phenomenon is not effecting residents of Athens-Clarke County, which has its own water treatment plant, but it is being seen by people in Oconee, Jackson and Barrow counties who get their drinking water from the Bear Creek Regional Reservoir and Treatment Plant Facility.

Water authorities in those counties have explained to customers that the discoloration is a temporary issue that has been caused by "lake turnover," a natural process in which where deeper water at Bear Creek Reservoir rises and mixes with upper layers and l results in an increase of manganese, a non-toxic chemical that has given the water its yellow color.

Until then, officials stressed, the water is safe to drink.