Discolored water concerns residents
By Ty Johnson
Published in News on June 14, 2011 1:46 PM
Wayne Water District customers living south of U.S. 70 along N.C. 111 may be turning their faucets on to find brown-tinted water early this week due to to two incidents over the weekend that led to tea-colored tap water.
A contractor hit a water line Friday and a 12-inch main blew on Sutton Road near Seven Springs that led district water technicians to direct water from the southern district to make up for the loss in pressure.
Operations Manager Joey Threewitts said the increase in water flow led to iron deposits in the pipes to collect along with the water.
Standard procedure dictates that the lines would be flushed to remove the sediment, but Threewitts said he didn't want to compound the problem by increasing the water flow further.
He said the water was safe to drink and that no one had lost water connectivity that he was aware of.
"We got some brown water complaints, but the water is safe to drink," he said. "If you catch it, it will all settle to the bottom of the glass. We had reports of low pressures but nobody was completely out of water."
The sheer volume of phone calls from the affected area tied up the phone lines at the district answering service. Some dialed 911.
"They were all trying to call and got a busy signal," he said. "But it's not that no one is there."