Friends & Neighbors,
Cold Spring is where -among other things- History &
Chemistry come together to inspire, vex & intrigue!
We’re fortunate to have the inquisitive and archivist mind
of our Water Superintendent, Greg Phillips on hand to field questions and
provide interesting intel about our Village’s water system. I caught up with Greg this morning to get a
little pre-holiday weekend primer on water pipes and water quality and have created a little summary of our discussion below.
***
As we know our water delivery system is an antique. With the exception of those portions of the
water main that were relined in 2012 and 2013, our water is delivered to us
through unlined iron pipes.
Long before we started treating our drinking water the iron
and manganese in those pipes rusted and created a crust on the inside of the
pipe. The crust is irregular, thick and
thin in difference spots along the delivery system. Warmer water running over that crust will
bring the oxidized iron and manganese into solution, discoloring our water.
At low concentrations this iron & manganese is yellow-to-red
and in some cases it can look brown.
In public water supply parlance, this type of discoloration is
called “aesthetically objectionable”.
That means it’s not a health concern – but can look unpleasant.
This discoloration is not due to something entering our
system through breached pipes. Our pipes
are under pressure. If there was a breach, we would note a loss of water and
loss of pressure in our system. No such
changes in volume or pressure have been observed.
But what can be done?
Short of relining the rest of our system or replacing all of the old
iron pipes, we can flush the system.
The Village’s practice is to flush the system twice per year
– early spring and mid-fall. We do this
to maintain water quality, shaking loose the rust that will let go, and to test
our fire hydrants and our fire-flows.
We conduct these system flushes at night – to reduce
inconvenience to Village residents and businesses, and to keep our Highway and Water
Department staff available during the day for other needful work.
This year we have been short staffed on hour Highway Crew
and have had to delay the system flush.
We will conduct the next flush starting on JUNE 1st - NEXT WEEK!
***
I hope this is helpful intel to you all – it was to me as
Greg explained it.
Many thanks to our hardworking – and very busy – Water Department
and Highway Department! You all do excellent work maintaining our physical plant! :)
Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
