Four months ago CU formed a committee to explore acting on a recommendation from the EPA and our engineering consultant to install flushing hydrants.
After several months of researching the pros/cons, understanding the risks, receiving quotes from several contractors, and vetting our selected contractor, we passed a unanimous motion to install hydrants.
On behalf of the CU Board, I’m happy to show you the first complete installed hydrant. It’s on the East Side on Suqulak. By the time this contract is fulfilled, we will have 14 total hydrants installed at various locations around the community.
We selected a contractor that has experience working on our type of distribution piping. We are able to install these hydrants without isolating the distribution system. This process is called “hot tapping.” However, this work is not without risk.
Over the next few weeks, weather permitting, you may see our contractor installing hydrants throughout the neighborhood. If something doesn’t go right, and it becomes necessary to notify you of any problems, we will be posting on this forum, Facebook, and via the email system.
These hydrants will allow us to do a much more thorough flush than we are currently able to do. As unusual as this sounds, flushing the distribution system is a common maintenance practice for any water system.
Please drive safely and watch out for our contractors who will be working over the next few weeks – and let’s hope for good weather!
I would like to thank the CU team that made this important piece of infrastructure happen.