BATON ROUGE - The Baton Rouge Water Company blamed complaints of brown water in part of North Baton Rouge on a fire department training program that involves opening and closing fire hydrants quickly.

Hayes Owen told News 2  that stirs up "natural minerals" in the line, like manganese, which gives the water its brownish hue. Manganese and the other minerals are harmless.

The areas affected include Airline Highway near Prescott Road and North Lobdell Boulevard near Greenwell Springs Road.

The water company is flushing lines in those areas now and say residents should expect to see their water clear up "soon", if it hasn't already. Owen recommends using the water faucet furthest from the street water lines and run the water cold to clear out the discolored water.

Owen did now know an estimated number of homes affected.