Until the end of July, residents may come across the occasional fire hydrant gushing forth a torrent of water. However, there is no need for alarm.
To maintain the water quality in the Town’s pipes, fire hydrants in the valley will be opened to clean Drumheller’s pipes.
Town crews have already completed the water main flushing program and now they begin flushing hydrants. Residents could potentially see some brown water during this time.
“Typically when we flush the hydrants, as long as you’re not using any water, you won’t get any brown water,” said Brian Bolduc, utilities manager with the Town of Drumheller.
Crews will be starting in Rosedale and then will move west, releasing hydrants as they go. The program will end in Midland in three to four weeks. The program runs annually.
“You try to scour the line to get any loose material out. It gives us a number of advantages. We flush the lines to get fresher water in there, inspect the hydrants, and do flow tests on the hydrants,” said Bolduc.
Should residents experience any brown water during this time, the Town recommends to let your taps run for 10 minutes or flush your toilet. If that doesn’t help, residents can call 403-823-1340 for the Water Treatment Plant, or 403-823-1330 for Public Works.
Brown water is caused by a reaction between naturally occurring manganese and chlorine according to Bolduc. Crews test daily to ensure manganese levels stay low.
“For the past year, we’ve been under the whole time,” said Bolduc. “If anyone wants we can come [to their place] and do some regular testing there.”
