Why is My Sink Pink?

Do you see pinkish-red staining in your toilet, on the bottom of the shower curtain and around the drain of your bathroom skin?  Do you have a water treatment system but think it’s not working!  Actually your water treatment system is probably working well, because the pink in your skin is not coming from your water!

That pinkish-red staining does not originate in the water is comes out of the air. It is the result of an airborne bacterium called Serratia marcesens that loves moist spots particularly in your bathroom. The levels of moisture and oxygen in your bathroom give it an ideal environment for growth. If you give it even a few hours it multiplies, causing the telltale pink stain. This will typically wipe off easily, and you may think that using a bleach or other disinfecting product will permanently remove it. However, as it is in your air it will recolonize once the cleaner has been washed away. This is in contrast to iron staining, which is more of a reddish-brown coloration and can be difficult to remove. Iron staining can be treated since it exists in the water and can be removed.

The only treatment for airborne bacteria that you can achieve by treating the water is to add Chlorine or Peroxide.  Most folks on well water do not want to add Chlorine at all because of it’s health risks and bad taste. Hydrogen Peroxide, while a great way to disinfect your water is not a typical treatment unless there are high levels of iron. So, you need to treat the air or the stain not the water. The simplest way to do this is to clean affected area and then keep a bottle of regular Hydrogen Peroxide in the bathroom and spray a little in and around the drains and shower curtain each day, that should to keep the pink away!

Remember these are not harmful bacteria so while they may not be possible to eliminate they are not hurting you or your family.

At Muskoka Clean Water we have a systems that can take the colour out of most well or lake water, whether it is iron or tannin but if its pink in your sink it’s not in your water!