'Crunchy' tap water discovery in Aussie sink 'disgusts': 'Never seen anything like this'
A brown, rocky clump, which looks almost similar to crushed tree bark, was leftover after a confused Aussie boiled three litres of water.
A "crunchy" substance that was found at the bottom of a pan after a West Aussie boiled three litres of tap water has left many scratching their heads — and some people's stomach churning.
Posting to social media this week, the WA local uploaded a photo of the strange substance which they said they noticed was leftover after boiling a few litres of water. "I boiled away about three litres of Perth tap water, and this is what was left. What is it?" they asked online.
In the photos, a brown, rocky clump can be seen that almost looks like crushed tree bark. Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, water expert and professor at the University of Western Sydney, Ian Wright, shed some light on what the mass most most likely is, after people online shared the poster's confusion.
"I’m a chef and have boiled Perth water thousands of times. Never seen residue like this," one person said. "That looks particularly excessive for three litres," said another. "I've always used a water filter since moving to Perth from the country where we always drank rain water. Can't stand the taste of tap water," another wrote.
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"Perth water is undrinkable. Maybe you are used to it and don’t notice — it is absolutely disgusting for tourists and bathrooms smell like public pools," a fourth person said.
Expert weighs in, reveals origins of odd brown mass
Eventually, Wright set the record straight. "Wow! [It's] salt! But not necessarily sodium chloride table salt," he told Yahoo News.
"Perth has the saltiest capital city water. But this varies according to different supply districts... The Mount Yokine supply had the saltiest water, based on available data, for any Australian capital city."
While the answer might seem simple enough, Wright, a former employee of Sydney Water, said people should be wary of particularly salty tap water. "Australians all have too much salt in our diet and water usually only provides a little, but it adds to salt burden and people with kidney disease need to be very careful about salt intake," he warned.
"And it lifts blood pressure. So I’d say can have health effects, but in combination with salt in whole diet."
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