AUB To Flush City Water Lines Friday; Discolored Water Possible

Media Contact:

Wayne Scarbrough

(423) 745-4501 ext. 6002

wscarbrough@aub.org

May 2, 2018

ATHENS, Tenn. – Crews from Athens Utilities Board (AUB) will flush water lines and fire hydrants throughout the city beginning at 4 p.m. on Friday, May 4, weather permitting. The work will go throughout the night.

Crews may open some hydrants earlier that afternoon and allow them to remain open longer, at a “lazy stream” pace, for several hours depending on their position in the system.

If rainfall is heavy Friday evening, crews will flush the following evening if possible, on Saturday, May 5.

Flushing water distribution lines is preventive maintenance that promotes clean, sediment-free water year round. AUB flushes the system each fall and spring.

The work to flush all hydrants will involve teams of AUB crewmembers that will begin work simultaneously at various points throughout the system. Crews will open each hydrant on the system for several minutes, until they verify that the water is clean with minimal sediment.

The effort will continue throughout the night until all hydrants have been flushed. Work should be complete by sunrise on Saturday.

AUB urges area residents to keep these things in mind Friday night and the following Saturday:

-Overnight on Friday, and even throughout Saturday when the work is finished, some areas may have slightly cloudy water. This is typical and primarily is the result of small entrained air bubbles that will dissipate with time. Some cloudiness may be the result of sediment being washed free of the lines by the high-velocity, high-volume water circulated through the system.

-Because of the possibility of sediment in the water, area residents should avoid washing clothes during the work, and especially on Saturday following the work. Washing during these time periods could result in clothes that are dingy or discolored.

-During the flushing, residents may experience times of low water pressure due to the loss of head pressure in the AUB reservoirs that supply water to the system. Low water pressure will likely begin around 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. and will come and go throughout the night as various areas are flushed. A pump will run continuously at AUB’s water plant to help keep as much water in supply reservoirs as possible, but low-pressure periods in some areas during the work are likely.

To protect streams and aquatic life, AUB uses a compound called sodium thiosulfate to neutralize chlorine in the higher-than-normal volume of water that is drained from the system in a relatively short period.

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