Ableman offers many reasons for water color
CHENEY — Public Works Director Todd Ableman is advising residents to contact the city if their water is discolored.
“The important message is that when a resident sees that discoloration, they should contact the city and try to work with us to clear it up.” Ableman said.
His comments came last week after the city had received complaints about the water. And it followed a brief brouhaha over water quality during a recent City Council meeting.
Ableman said the cause of water discoloration in the city is elemental iron deposits from within the water transport and storage infrastructure.
“Not all problems are related to the same issue, of course,” he said. “Discoloration of that kind could be a hot-water tap or cold-water tap issue.”
According to Ableman, water tank sediment can also lead to discoloration.
“Hot water tanks accumulate sediment and that is an issue for some residents,” he said. “If it is a cold-water tap discoloration, then it is a different issue.”
Ableman said that, depending on how the water system is “stirred up,” the result will be a plume of mineral iron from well-source water.
“Since we do have ground-water wells, the system brings up the iron and it reaches your tap sometimes,” Ableman said.
Ableman also cited other potential infrastructure maintenance projects which could be slowing down his department’s ability to respond to complaints.
“Well 1 was in rehab, but is back up and running,” he said. “Also, the weather being so cold, makes it difficult for us to flush local areas using certain methods.
“As the weather clears up, we’ll be able to flush the system and prevent that discoloration.”
Ableman encourages residents to report instances of discoloration as soon as they occur.
“If you can run the tap for a few minutes, sometimes it will clear,” he said. “Resident participation is critical. We can’t see the water main, it’s underground. So, we rely on residents to report issues.”
Ableman also said the city tests its water regularly — daily, weekly and monthly.
Lucas is a former Cheney Free Press managing editor. He is a nationally published author who contributes regularly to several publications across the country.
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