The Town of Olds flushed a couple of fire hydrants on April 11 to clear the water line of impurities in response to reports of brown water coming through taps in the community.
The Town of Olds flushed a couple of fire hydrants on April 11 to clear the water line of impurities in response to reports of brown water coming through taps in the community.
"Typically what we do is we go and crack open a couple hydrants and flush that line and that's exactly what happened," said Norm McInnis, the town’s chief administrative officer.
He said when water sits inside a pipe, some buildup accumulates, which might have made it through residents’ faucets.
"When you flush those lines, it does disturb some of the stuff that's on the inside of the pipes. It's a short-term thing, a common maintenance issue. If any people are having problems, what they need to do is run their taps for a few minutes and it should go away."
According to Scott Chant, the town’s director of operational services, the problem was resolved that day, though the town ended up breaking an old hydrant while flushing it out.
Chant said the water treatment plant that serves Olds was shut down earlier for valve maintenance. When it was back in service, the plant experienced turbidity issues.
Turbidity refers to the clarity of water based on the amount of particles within the liquid.
It is measured at the plant, where the water is treated and chlorinated before being transported to Olds, where it is re-chlorinated if necessary, McInnis said.
The treatment plant in question also serves Innisfail, Bowden, Didsbury, Carstairs and Crossfield, he added.
Both town officials emphasized the water was safe for consumption, despite its appearance.
"It doesn’t have an effect on the water," McInnis said of the turbidity. "It has an effect on possibly on the aesthetics of the water, so colour or smell but it doesn’t have any effect on the quality of the drinking water."
He added the quality of drinking water must meet strict conditions and failing them, the town must report to Alberta Environment officials.
Chant said utilities crews went to five houses to test their water, prompting the town to run the hydrants.
He added that the affected area was east of the train tracks parallel to 50 Avenue. Douglas Place, on the west side of Olds, was also affected.
However, other parts of town have reportedly experienced the problem as well.
According to Tracy Sahli, the manager of Dairy Queen on Highway 27 at 50 Avenue, the restaurant lost water pressure and had brown water running through the tap the afternoon of April 11.
Sahli did not report the issue to the town, saying she was not concerned unless the restaurant lost all water pressure.
She added that the incident did not affect business operations.
"Anything that runs on water is just cooled by water and anything that has water in it, we have filters set up … because that’s one of the requirements that we have."
Other people in the community took to Facebook on April 11 and 12 to post comments and images relating to the brown water problem.
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