Service Outage for Water Line Cleaning
Harris County MUD 264 is beginning the process of cleaning all water lines in Westcreek Village. Each customer will experience a water service outage in the near future. Read on to learn how this will directly impact you.
To ensue minimal impact, Inframark will be doing this cleaning street by street; not all of Westcreek at once. Water service to each section of our water mains will be temporarily turned off; during that time that section of water line will be cleaned. Door tags will be distributed at least 48 hours prior to your section of water line being cleaned. The service disruption will last approximately 4 hours or less and will occur during normal business hours (8 am to 5 pm).
Once the cleaning process is completed and your water service is restored, you’ll need to flush your water system from the outside faucet closest to your water meter to reduce the possibility of any residual debris entering your house line. The water may be discolored for several minutes, so you’ll need to continuing flushing your lines until the water is clear. To ensure the highest quality of water enters your home, it is recommended that you refrain from utilizing any water in your home (sinks, bathtubs, showers, flushing toilets, clothing and dish washing machines, etc.) until you’ve flushed your outside faucet as described above and on your door tag. Air may also be present in the water line and may cause your plumbing to vibrate and the water to appear “milky” in color. This will dissipate in a very short amount of time.
While we realize that disrupting water service is an inconvenience, MUD 264 has researched multiple options for dealing with this issue and has concluded that Air Scouring is the least invasive, fastest, and most economical option for our community.
Harris County MUD 264’s water system is part of a much larger network. Water is collected and treated on the east side of Houston, then transferred via transmission lines and pumping stations to our MUD and other communities in the area. To transport water such a long distance requires the water to be treated with chloramine. This treatment is advantageous for a number of reasons, but also comes with its own maintenance requirements. Over time, this type of treatment results in the occurrence of nitrification and biofilm. While these effects of chloramine treatment pose no issues to the safety of water, they can impact taste, odor, and color. To address these and other associated issues, our MUD is taking the proactive step to clean the lines and remove all traces of nitrification and biofilm before we encounter major issues.