Thousands of residents in Mississippi have reported jet black water streaming out of their taps, as officials claim the mysterious liquid is “perfectly safe to drink.”

According to government officials, residents can drink, bathe and do their laundry in the dirty looking liquid – but have so far refused to elaborate on why the water has suddenly changed its color.

Black water flowing in Mississippi town; residents told it's safe to drink.

"My question is who would want to sit down at the table and drink some of this?" » https://t.co/dk0iqtNWxF pic.twitter.com/QLYPRgdWV5 — WBTV News (@WBTV_News) June 19, 2018

Kron4.com reports: Officials say that the black color comes from iron and is that color due to it having too much iron in it.

Anger at Having to Wash Clothes in Black Water

One homeowner said they had put a load of washing into their washing machine and they were white towels. The black water began to pour into the machine, and the towels were sloshing around in the disgusting water. They asked how the clothes are expected to be clean and who would pay for the cleanup if the clothing and towels were ruined.

The black water has been an issue since last week, but on Friday, it did seem to be getting slightly better. In a video, water was shown coming out of a tap, and it looked like weak coffee or tea? The video showed the remnants left behind when the brackish water had swirled away down the drain. Dark black stains were left behind pitting the sink. Another showed a clean white sink with dirty brown water coming out of the tap; this is water in which residents are supposed to wash.

One homeowner scooped up some of the leftover residues of water onto a finger and showed what looked to be a sickish looking dark brown substance. The resident collected some of the brown water in a jar, explaining that it was not right for the city to expect people to come home from water to see black/brown water coming out of their taps and expecting them to drink and wash in it.