MARYSVILLE – Starting the week of Sept. 19, the city of Marysville Public Works Department will begin its annual flushing of water mains.

“Flushing mains is done periodically and is vital to ensuring that water consumed meets the highest quality standards possible,” said Karen Latimer, Public Works Operations Manager.

Public Works crews plan to flush mains from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., focusing on two major areas. The 240 pressure zone is located generally from 100th Street NE north to 180th Street in the Smokey Point area, and extending from I-5 east to 67th Avenue. The 510 pressure zone boundaries are 100th Street south to 46th Place NE, and 71st Avenue NE east to SR 9.

If customers notice that water appears discolored when Public Works crews are working in the vicinity, simply run your cold water faucet until it clears up, said Latimer. Any cloudiness that occurs is temporary, and not harmful. The city is also taking precautions to ensure that alarms on some in-home and business fire sprinkler systems do not go off once they detect a drop in water pressure. Any pressure drops are slight and temporary. Public Works officials suggest that you contact the company that installed the sprinkler system to ask if brief drops in water pressure will cause a problem.

“Flushing water mains each year is required to help ensure clean, safe drinking water, using a process that removes scale and build-up that collects in all piping systems,” Latimer said. Water main flushing also helps maintain proper fire flow in the event of an emergency and ensures the fire hydrants in neighborhoods and business districts are working properly.

The city is committed to providing water that meets or exceeds EPA standards. Water main flushing is one part of a solid maintenance program to ensure that customer have the best water supply available, said Latimer.

If you have any questions, or experience water problems that do not clear up over a brief period, please call the Marysville Public Works Department at 360-363-8100.Main flushing will be ongoing over the next six months. For updates on locations, more information, and an online map identifying water zone boundaries, please visit the Marysville website at http://marysvillewa.gov/index.aspx?nid=393.

The city of Marysville has supplied drinking water since 1920. The city currently supplies more than 6.5 million gallons per day of drinking water to more than 18,500 connections in the Marysville area.