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Water Line Issues - 10/24/2022

October 24, 2022

The District is currently flushing lines and will be through the end of this week (Friday, October 28th). You should have received a door hanger last week stating this. After that, our water lines should be clear of most dirt, sand and debris.

If you scroll this page, you can read about the current situation and why we are having to flush our lines for the second time this year (typically we flush them once a year, sometime between late January and April). The work and maintenance taking place right now is directly related to unplanned issues with one of the system wells. We are hopeful that this is an isolated situation and will update our maintenance & operation plans to avoid this (to the extent possible) in the future.

As always, to alleviate issues caused by flushing lines:

  • Run a front yard hose bib for 5-10 minutes. Doing so will help flush any sand built up at your specific water meter and make its way out of the system.
  • Refrain from doing laundry possible.
  • Remove any filters from your filtration system (to prevent damage).

We appreciate your patience and hope to have this issue resolved very soon. Should you have any questions, please feel free to call the office.

Thank You

For more information, please visit www.hilmarcwd.org.

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October 14, 2022

Inspections and repairs of the offline well were completed this week. We plan to put everything back together and complete our start-up procedures (reassembling, sampling, etc.) next week. This will ensure that the water meets all requirements prior to being put back into production.

Because this incident may have brought sand into our distribution system, the District is planning to flush all lines the week of October 24th. Every resident will receive a door-hanger notice next week reminding them of this. Unfortunately, flushing lines may cause discoloration and sediment within the system. To alleviate these issues:

  • Run a front yard hose bib for 5-10 minutes. Doing so will help flush any sand built up at your specific water meter and make its way out of the system.
  • Refrain from doing laundry possible.
  • Remove any filters from your filtration system (to prevent damage).

We appreciate your patience and hope to have this issue resolved very soon. Should you have any questions, please feel free to call the office.

Thank You.

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September 30, 2022

Thank you for being so patient as we continue to work through these issues.

On September 30th, several customers near the beginning of our distribution system (Camden & American) began informing us that sand was once again showing up in their homes. Anytime sand enters the system (like the event a few weeks ago), we may see other occurrences until it has been completely removed from the water lines. 

Standard District procedures would have us flush the entire system to remove as much sand as possible. However, we were unable to schedule repairs for the original issue until October 10th (available crews and supply chain issues). Therefore, we wanted to hold-off flushing lines until after that to minimize customer inconvenience. 

We are currently doing some "spot flushing" near the Camden and American intersection and the surrounding neighborhoods. Be advised that this may turn up other particles in your system, even if they had seemed to pass through.

Once all repairs have been completed, we will flush the entire system. We will notify customers of those dates in advance once they've been determined.

In the meantime, we'd once again recommend the following to help alleviate these issues:

Run a front yard hose bib for 5-10 minutes. Doing so will help flush any sand built up at your specific water meter and make its way out of the system.

Filter any water needed for cooking or drinking. The water is still safe; however, dirt and sand may be present.

Let us know if you continue to have issues. Feel free to reach out using the contact form on the website or email info@hilmarcwd.org. 

Check back here for updated information. 

We apologize for the inconvenience and, once again, appreciate your patience.

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September 08, 2022

On September 8th, the District noticed elevated levels of very fine sands entering the distribution system. District Operators worked to immediately identify the problem and remedy the situation.

We were able to pinpoint that the sand was coming from one specific well site. We have adjusted our well usage to work around this, preventing any additional sand from entering our system. We are also working to find the best possible solutions for our customers.

Unfortunately, these extremely small particles are spread throughout the distribution lines and continue to cause issues for our users. We apologize for this and ask for your patience as we continue to resolve the situation.

In the meantime, there are a few things you can do to help alleviate these issues:

Turn on a front yard hose bib for 5-10 minutes. This would help flush any sand built up at your specific water meter to make its way out of the system.

Filter any water that may be needed for cooking or drinking. While the water is still safe, there is obviously some dirt and sand making its way through.

Let us know if you continue to have issues. The most affected areas of town seem to be American Avenue and Camden Drive and those surrounding neighborhoods, but we want to know if there are more. 

Check back here for updated information. We'll provide that as soon as it becomes available.

We apologize again and thank you for your patience.