Water may run brownish, as cities flush pipes

Ah, fall. A time for raking leaves, donning jackets and ... flushing hydrants.

Several north metro cities will be flushing their water mains and hydrants this month.

The hydrant flushing ritual means residents may notice brownish water pouring from their taps. While the discolored water is safe to drink, it could stain laundry.

"When we're out there flushing and we're moving large amounts of water in directions that it normally doesn't move, if someone opens their tap at the wrong time, they could get a piece of that water that's mixed up with iron," said Mark Maloney, Shoreview's public works director. "We tell people to open their taps and let things run for a while."

The brownish water shouldn't last more than a day.

New Brighton city crews will start their work on Monday, working their way from one end of the suburb to the other. The flushing period is expected to last two weeks.

In Shoreview, the flushing of the water mains already is underway. Maloney says the process will take about six weeks to complete.

Instead of going to an area of the city and opening all the hydrants and letting them run for a while, Shoreview city workers focus on parts of the city that are known problem areas for discolored water. Then, they isolate a piece of the underground pipe in that area and flush it before moving on to the next pipe.

Flushing the water mains helps rid the city water of iron and manganese buildup. The minerals can accumulate in the network of pipes underground, and if it doesn't get flushed out, that buildup eventually will start making its way into the tap, Maloney said.

Opening the fire hydrants also allows city officials to make sure the pipes are working properly.