Can red water residue make me sick?

Question

I have found red residue on my bath tub, sink, shower head, and even in my dog's water dish. From researching online it sounds like it might be iron in the water, so I'm planning on contacting my landlord, but can this make me or my dog sick? She's been having an upset stomach lately and my boyfriend and I have been getting headaches but I don't know if I'm over analysing or if this might be a real problem. Let me know if anybody knows or has any experience with this type of stuff.

In response to JK...no I don't "drink out my bath or shower" but, as I said, the water in my dog's dish left a red residue and we do drink out of that same tap. Thanks for asking

Answer 1

too much iron can make you sick, but too little of iron makes you have headaches, actually. You can suffer from iron poisoning, but that requires a LOT of iron :) You'll be fine!

Answer 2

The red in the water is rust. You probably have old galvanized pipes. So what you would be drinking is iron oxide. Unless you are anemic you don't need extra iron and excessive iron can cause health problems. Iron can upset your stomach. Let the water run for a few minutes, is it still red? If it is I would consider drinking bottled water or getting a filter for drinking water, or a Britta filter jug. Replacing the pipes with copper or PEX would fix it but a big job one your landlord may not want to do..
I have not heard of getting headaches from iron, you may want to ask your doctor on that. Do you have a carbon monoxide detector? CO will give you headaches and could kill if the levels get high enough. It sounds like an older home, is the heating system old? If you both have headaches and didn't before I would consider an environmental cause.

Answer 3

Do you drink out your bath or shower?