The Fayette County Water System — beset by more than a week of complaints about stinky water — has called in the cavalry, the fire departments of both Peachtree City and Fayette County.
To speed drainage of the stinky water from the hundreds of miles of water pipes from Brooks to Tyrone, firefighters now will be opening up fire hydrants all over the county to purge the system of the odorous water, according to the press release Wednesday from County Commission Chairman Steve Brown.
The county’s prior responses to the public relations disaster brewed by the lingering water problem are detailed in two stories already posted on TheCitizen.com — “Another week of stinky water ahead” and “Refunds for stinky water? No, says Chairman Brown.”
Here’s the county news release in full:
Fayette County government to take “aggressive” steps to reduce water problem
Fire Departments now engaged to help purge more undesirable water through hydrants.
Fayette County, Georgia, May 15, 2013 – Fayette County Commission Chairman Steve Brown has announced that the county will be stepping-up their response in purging undesirable water from the system, which was altered through a natural inversion event at Lake Peachtree.
“The bad taste and the odor has continued several days longer than our water experts had anticipated, meaning there was more affected water in the system than they previously thought” said Brown. “We are now committing the county to some more aggressive steps to flush the system at a much higher rate by adding fire personnel to the roster of people tapping our fire hydrants throughout the county.”
Fayette Water System personnel have been working long hours moving throughout the county and flushing the hydrants. This latest move will allow fire crews to begin purging significantly more of the affected water in their fire coverage zones, allowing Water System personnel to withdraw water in other areas.
The fire crews will work in their station’s coverage zones and will cease activity immediately if activated on a fire call. In addition, the Water System will also increase the amount of water pumped into the system equal to summertime “high usage” demand quantities in order to keep water pressure levels safe.
Due to the recent abundance of rainfall, water usage, including watering landscapes and gardens, has remained low. The low water usage may also be responsible for the affected water remaining in the system longer.
“The Peachtree City Fire Department has graciously agreed to work with us by allowing some of their personnel to tackle hydrants in the city limits, permitting our fire crews to work Tyrone and the unincorporated county,” said Brown. “We are attacking this with everything we’ve got.”
The alternative of using the fire crews is a last resort move since the county did not want to do anything to impair the ability to promptly respond to fire calls. Fire Command Staff in the county and city will be closely managing the situation to insure response times are not compromised.
Any significant changes in water pressure due to the additional flushing of the water should be reported to the Fayette Water System at 770-461-1146. There is no health hazard associated with the affected drinking water.
