Clogged pipe photo does not show US water system
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on April 29, 2021 at 23:20
- 2 min read
- By AFP Cameroon
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“This is what your tap water travels through,” says text accompanying a photo of a decrepit pipe in an April 26, 2021 post from a Facebook user whose profile says he resides in New York.
Another Facebook user whose profile says he lives in Ohio also shared the photo on April 24, commenting: “I shared with you how they put chemicals in our drinking water to prevent the goop from breaking lose and clogging pipes. This time I thought I’d show you why I don't drink tap water anymore, and why you shouldn't either! #FilterYourWater.”
The photo, however, is not new and is not from the United States. A reverse image search shows that the photo was taken in Bangkok, Thailand and is several years old.
In 2017, the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority (MWA), in charge of distributing treated water in the Bangkok area, explained the context behind the photo in a Facebook post.
“The pipe in the photo is no longer in use by the MWA,” it said, adding that the pipe was removed in April 2016 in the Lad Krabang district, on the eastern outskirts of Bangkok.
“The yellow substance inside the pipe is a deposit that has been created over time due to the particles present in the water,” MWA said.
News anchors can also be seen talking about the pipe replacement in a TV report from that same year.
The same photo has previously circulated in a false context in Cameroon. A French version of this fact check is available here.
America is however no stranger to health crises linked to water supplies. The city of Flint, Michigan became a symbol of social injustice linked to clean water access.
In 2014, local authorities switched its drinking water source to the polluted Flint River to save money, but failed to add corrosion controls to the new tap water source, allowing lead and other contaminants to leach from the city’s aging pipe system.
The contamination, initially denied by state and local officials, poisoned thousands of children and caused the deaths of at least 12 people.
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