Flushed Away

Fire hydrants can used for flushing out city water lines.

It happens, the city tap water starts to be not so fresh, might be brown or not be so great to smell. At times especially on dead end water lines the water can become stagnate, turn brown from silt or other deposits such as rust. Oskaloosa Water Department is shown here flushing a city line to help alleviate the problem for residents. Most of the time this is not a problem as city crews flush the lines every spring and fall, but such as in this instance, the water wasn’t up to the quality demanded by the public or the Water Dept.

You may wonder if your water is safe to drink after the hydrant is flushed? Yes. It may be discolored at first, so run the cold water tap until it clears up. If that doesn’t work, wait a few minutes and repeat. And of course, hold off on washing those whites until water clarity returns.