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US town has gold pouring from its taps

By T.K. Randall
June 9, 2014 · Comment icon 17 comments

It isn't clear where the gold flakes have come from. Image Credit: sxc.hu
Residents of the town of Whitehall in Montana have discovered gold flakes in their water supply.
Mark and Sharon Brown were perplexed when they found large flecks of the precious metal floating in their washing up bowl after cleaning the dishes.

"She pulled the plug to let the water out and it was glistening, gleaming little flecks," said Mr Brown. "I can't explain it... It's bizarre." The couple's neighbor Paul Harper also reported finding gold flakes in the water from his tap.
Officials have sent samples of the water away for testing but admit that they are stumped as to how the gold came to be there. The town's water supply is sourced from two wells and while there is a gold mine five miles up the road the flecks aren't believed to have originated from there.

Residents have now started to question what other containments may be in the water supply. "If we're getting heavy metals that you can see with the naked eye, what else might be in there ?" said Brown.

Source: IB Times | Comments (17)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #8 Posted by :PsYKoTiC:BeHAvIoR: 10 years ago
I'd be gold panning my tap if that would happen to me.
Comment icon #9 Posted by SaraT 10 years ago
In other news, the population of Whitehall in Montana just increased by 1 million!
Comment icon #10 Posted by OverSword 10 years ago
If it's real gold then according to wikipedia, no big deal. Toxicity Pure metallic (elemental) gold is non-toxic and non-irritating when ingested[120] and is sometimes used as a food decoration in the form of gold leaf. Metallic gold is also a component of the alcoholic drinks Goldschläger, Gold Strike, and Goldwasser. Metallic gold is approved as a food additive in the EU (E175 in the Codex Alimentarius). Although the gold ion is toxic, the acceptance of metallic gold as a food additive is due to its relative chemical inertness, and resistance to being corroded or transformed into soluble sa... [More]
Comment icon #11 Posted by BarnabasCollins 10 years ago
Maybe it's the city's way of refunding for excessively high water charges.
Comment icon #12 Posted by DieChecker 10 years ago
I wonder how gold flakes could be being pushed around by tap water, so that it goes uphill into people's homes and through their water pipes. Since gold is so heavy, I'd expect that the whole town would have the lower laying pipes full of gold. OR.... This could just be bits of brass left in the lines from construction/remodel work. Was the gold actually tested? EDIT: Multiple articles say that the locals did several chemical tests to see if this was gold, and they were convinced that it is gold. It seems perhaps they used acid in one of these experiments. I still am reserving judgement till a... [More]
Comment icon #13 Posted by pallidin 10 years ago
I wonder how gold flakes could be being pushed around by tap water, so that it goes uphill into people's homes and through their water pipes. Since gold is so heavy, I'd expect that the whole town would have the lower laying pipes full of gold. OR.... This could just be bits of brass left in the lines from construction/remodel work. Was the gold actually tested? EDIT: Multiple articles say that the locals did several chemical tests to see if this was gold, and they were convinced that it is gold. It seems perhaps they used acid in one of these experiments. I still am reserving judgement till a... [More]
Comment icon #14 Posted by 6.6.6 10 years ago
Gold dosnt float! Its 10-20 times heavier than anything else that may come from a stream Most if not all private water supplies have a large header tank somewhere, usually buried 5m or higher from the property's that it supplies or is pumed uphill mechanically from a stream or a spring, so any naturally occurring gold would sink directly to the bottom of the header tank, If its a public water supply then there is no way gold can enter the supply, most come from reservoirs in which gold would have sunk to the bottom of, and if by a slim chance some had made it out of the reservoir there are man... [More]
Comment icon #15 Posted by plaguedmedusa 10 years ago
I would be collecting that gold like you wouldn't believe. I wish that would happen in my town!
Comment icon #16 Posted by Hawkin 10 years ago
With the price of gold these days, I'd be panning my dish drain.
Comment icon #17 Posted by Rose-Red Howler 10 years ago
Water spirits have been at it again. Gold is apparantly quite edible.


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