What Is Hydrant Flushing?
Ultimately, hydrant flushing is the quick release of water from fire hydrants used to maintain the quality of a city's water distribution system. Hydrant flushing is a controlled action to ensure proper water flow in hydrants for firefighters, residents, and businesses. Hydrant flushing further clears out sediments and minerals from the water main. Doing so retains a high quality of the water. It is generally done twice a year in the spring and fall. The process takes about 30 to 60 minutes. Water can become discolored during hydrant flushing. While some slight discoloration is natural and goes away, if your water looks yellow or brown even after several hours after flushing, call a plumbing service to inspect the water main and pipes as soon as possible.
Water main flushing removes sediment and minerals which improves the color, odor, and taste of the problematic water. The improvements of unidirectional flushing further improve the velocity of the water main's carrying capacity.
Does Hydrant Testing Affect Your Water?
Hydrant flushing may also leave your water discolored or altered. As part of everything you need to know about hydrant flushing, water discoloration is one of the most common consequences. You may have a lot of questions if your water appears rusty or tea colored. Mainly: is it safe to drink? Hydrant flushing can temporarily alter the color of your water. This is due to iron and other minerals in the water main. Due to conventional and unidirectional flushing, the minerals in water mains stir up as they're flushed out. There's little concern over this discoloration, as it's usually safe to drink. However, rust-colored water may stain clothes and dishes. If you live outside the boundaries of where hydrant flushing is performed and you notice discolored water, that's okay.
Occasionally, residents live beyond the limits of where hydrant flushing occurs because the opening of a hydrant can cause water to run in the opposite direction than normal. Also, open pipes are a gateway for discolored water. It's possible if you or a neighbor doesn't use any water to not experience any discoloration.