"Murky" water

 

At times you might experience "murky" water. This can be caused by several sources. SVWC periodically flushes its service lines to remove particulates. In addition, public service agencies (fire dept, ODOT) take water from SVWC hydrants at such a rate that it can cause water pressures to wildly fluctuate. This fluctuation causes the particulates in the system to loosen and in turn causes murky water. These are temporary situations and SVWC recommends that you run each faucet, flush toilets and run your washing machine without clothes one time to clear the lines.

 

During the summer months some of our customers may experience iron in their water. This is a result of the fact that due to summer demand SVWC is forced to use a well that has a relatively high iron content, .18 - .22 milligrams per liter. The EPA does not consider iron a primary contaminant and has set a secondary limit of .3 mg/L for iron. SVWC "blends" the water from this well with the other wells to reduce the effects of the iron. However, this blending is totally dependent on demand. Very high demand means water from the high iron well gets added directly to the system at times during the day. Its these times that you might experience murky water or odors. Drought conditions also cause there to be more iron as we pump more than the usual amount from the high iron well to protect the aquifers of the other wells.