Residents concerned about water quality at Wilmington apartments

WILMINGTON, Del. (WPVI) -- Residents at a luxury apartment in Wilmington are having major concerns over water quality. They say there are times when it comes out of the tap full of black particles, and now they're worried about their health.

The apartment building in question is located in the middle of Trolley Square, near the corner of Delaware Avenue and Franklin Street.

Some residents there say they do not trust their tap water anymore, and claim they've lost faith that the management plans to do anything serious about the situation.

1303 Delaware Avenue is a landmark apartment building. Units in the building go for upwards of $1,700 a month, according to residents. But some are complaining about the quality of their tap water, and their belief is that it is harming their health.

Ed Nitz has lived on the eighth floor for 13 years. He sent us a collage of pictures, which he says show the tap water right after the management flushes out the building's pipes.

Nitz explains, "Recently, over the last few months, we've been dealing with black water consistently when they shut the water off for periods of eight hours at a time."

Acting on our advice, Nitz called the city water quality department. Two inspectors arrived within an hour and did extensive testing.

Nitz blames the black water for his recent gastric problems.

"It was an issue that, I believe, may have started to cause me health problems. The canary in the coal mine was this past weekend, my dog, who was certified healthy for everything about a month ago, now developed hemorrhagic colitis," he said.

Nitz said the building management has told him time and again that they had called in the city for testing, but the city water quality officials say that is not true.

Emily MaGaw of the Wilmington Water Quality Bureau tells us, "We haven't received any calls since 2010 from this particular location."

The management of 1303 Delaware Avenue is countering the claims of residents, issuing a statement saying they're not aware of any water quality issues, adding, "If these test results show there is an issue they will work with the city to resolve it."

The test results are expected sometime Wednesday.