A newcomer to town with a background in plumbing, Paul Humphries told the Tribune he sent water samples for testing to a civil and sewer engineer friend at a nearby council three months ago. He said the results were alarming.

The water was tested for pH levels, chloride ion (Cl), residual aluminium, alkalinity, true colour (TCU), turbidity (NTU), Iron, Manganese, total coliforms, e.coli, total hardness, and fluoride.

The three areas of concern were that turbidity was high at 0.49 when standards stipulate it should be <0.1 or less; the pH was high at 8.2; and alkalinity was recorded at a disturbing >200 when the balance should be between 30 to 90.

He collected new samples from motels, schools and residences throughout Yass again on Wednesday and will conduct another test.

He has called a public meeting to discuss the results at the Soldiers Club on Sunday at 3pm.

"I have dealt with water in the Middle East, England, Australia and America with importing and exporting products and also designing water filtration management systems and governing levels," he said.

"Asking people what they want as you walk down the street, they want to be able to turn the tap on and have a drink of water - it is that simple."

But rather than "drag the local government across the coals" the aim of his meeting on Sunday would be to act as a mediator between the community and officials.

"It's about trying to get to the bottom of the problem, and then... trying to build some direction, trust and hope between the leaders and the people.

"The biggest problem is there is no open communication anymore, there's no transparency. This is not about me, I don't really want to do this, but when you see children drinking out of a front yard tap... it's about keeping the children safe.

"I just want to give people the confidence to stand up for themselves and communicate openly and be able to get problems resolved."

Yass Valley Council responded to a deluge of renewed public criticism via social media yesterday by confirming Yass water was safe to drink.

"The two key issues with the Yass water supply are hardness of the water and the presence of manganese.

The periodic discolouration is caused by either manganese settling out in the water mains or disturbing of sediment within the mains as a result of routine flushing or a pipe burst," they said in a statement posted on their website.

"Over the last 18 months all [chemical breakdown] results were well within the guideline values except for eight total hardness readings and four aluminium readings."

"The total hardness readings are a result of the naturally hard water in the Yass River and limitations in the design of the Yass Water Treatment plant which was constructed in 1990."

Council said water with a high hardness did not create health impacts but did cause scale on fittings and appliances and did affect taste and ability to obtain a lather with soap.

A summary of the water test report is available on their website.

In the meantime, Council said a new treatment process trial was proving successful and council had received minimal complaints over recent weeks.

Mr Humphries, who moved to Yass six months ago, said he just wants to work towards a solution.

"I'm not trying to cripple the council, we just need to know the truth."

He preferred to keep his engineer friend anonymous for fear he'd lose his job at a nearby council.

He said he would film the tests being done and accept the results if they came out clean this time, "they didn't three months ago, but hey, I'm willing to take that on the chin".