While it seems like a waste of water, hydrant flushing is an important
part of maintaining high quality, safe drinking water to every citizen
of Early.
- When line breaks happen, the section of pipe
around the break, must be super chlorinated to kill all bacteria that
entered the system. This super chlorinated water must be flushed out of
the system before the section of pipe can be put back into service.
- All water systems are required by state law to maintain the correct level of disinfectant in their water system.
- Effectiveness
of Chlorine dissipates over time due to the heat and water not
circulating through the entire system quickly enough.
- By
opening certain hydrants in areas of town, it resolves the problem of
stagnate water in the system by bringing fresh water in.
It
is important to flush different hydrants in different parts of town at
the same time to maintain the correct direction of flow in the pipes.
Hydrant flushing may take as little as 5 minutes per hydrant or up to a
full day or more depending on purpose of the flush and reaching the
required outcome.