The Orange Water Department has scheduled its Fall Fire Hydrant Flushing for weekdays, starting October 22nd until November 7th.
This has been posted on the Town Hall and Water Department bulletin boards, and was advertised in the Greenfield Recorder and the Athol Daily Newspapers for 3 days prior to starting. We have our sign boards at the two main intersections in the center of town, and are posting our local "expected flush area next flushing day" signs, along with updating this notice daily. We realize the inconvenience of this process, and are doing the best we can to alert the customers prior to the time when it will affect them the most. Please understand that this maintenance task must be performed at routine intervals to keep the entire system operating properly, despite the short term discoloration of the water that occurs as we move through. Please see below in regards to the safety of the discolored water, which is caused by stirring up settled mineral deposits within the piping system that we are removing as we perform this task in a systematic procedure.
Unexpected situations may affect the accuracy of this listing. In efforts to keep the customer base as informed as possible, today, Friday October 24th, the Orange Water Department does not expect to be flushing hydrants. Due to other scheduled tasks, we do not expect to be flushing hydrants on Monday, October 27th, but there is scheduled fire sprinkler work being done at the Walmart store on East Main Street Monday morning that will be flowing water.
System flushing is very important to water quality throughout the system, and also allows for fire hydrant operational checks. Discolored water is common during this process, and you are encouraged to check: https://www.townoforange.org/DocumentCenter/View/333/MADEP-Color-Taste--Odor-What-You-Should-Know-PDF to help answer related concerns about it. Please check here for daily updates of expected flushing areas, and thank you for your patience and understanding through this maintenance process.
