City officials have sent out the word to hotels around Fort Lauderdale that it\u2019s time to tear up the little cards placed in hotel rooms to reassure guests that the yellow water was safe to drink.<\/p>\n
Mayor Dean Trantalis says the cards greeting visitors to Fort Lauderdale had been around for more than a decade.<\/p>\n
\u201cToo long,\u201d he said. \u201cThis was a commitment we should have made years ago. And finally we accomplished that goal of providing clear, clean, plastic-free water to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trantalis says people can now rest assured that the yellow water problem is a thing of the past.<\/p>\n
Some longtime water customers said they\u2019d believe it when they saw it \u2014 including Ralph Zeltman, a retired county engineer who lives in Imperial Point in northeast Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n
But now he\u2019s a believer, partly thanks to his cat Gabriel.<\/p>\n
One day in mid-October, he noticed the water in the cat\u2019s bowl had lost its traditional yellow tinge.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how I was able to tell the water wasn\u2019t yellow anymore,\u201d said Zeltman, who serves on Fort Lauderdale\u2019s Infrastructure Advisory Board. \u201cIt used to turn yellow and now it\u2019s clear.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Ralph](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/TFL-L-YELLOW-WATER-GONE-1-102726.jpg\")
Ralph Zeltman says his cat Gabriel, shown Tuesday outside his home in Fort Lauderdale\u2019s Imperial Point neighborhood, helped tip him off that the city\u2019s yellow tap water was finally gone. The cat\u2019s water bowl was Zeltman\u2019s first sign that the water from his tap was no longer yellow. (Amy Beth Bennett\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Zeltman told the Sun Sentinel the water coming out of the new plant would indeed be clear, but might turn yellow<\/a> after traveling through the city\u2019s network of old, unlined cast-iron pipes.<\/p>\n Doussard says Zeltman and other experts who had warned the water might remain discolored due to old iron pipes were wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cThe water is clear,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n In a previous interview, expert Fred Bloetscher told the Sun Sentinel the city might have yellow water coming out of the tap for several months due to aging underground pipes.<\/p>\n On Thursday, he praised the city for keeping the water clear as it moves through the sprawling network of pipes.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the water is clear, it would indicate that the operations staff is doing an excellent job in balancing the water to prevent corrosion,\u201d Bloetscher said.<\/p>\n The new plant replaces Fiveash, a 1950s-era plant that served Fort Lauderdale and surrounding communities for more than 70 years.<\/p>\n
![\"Fort](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/TFL-L-YELLOW-WATER-GONE-3-102726.jpg\")
Fort Lauderdale resident Ralph Zeltman says his cat\u2019s water bowl, shown here on Tuesday, was his first indicator that the water from his tap was no longer yellow. (Amy Beth Bennett\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n