Water Main Flushing Begins This Week

The Public Works Department will be flushing water mains during the two week period of March 18 – 29 (weather permitting).  

Crews will begin flushing at 7:00 a.m.  Please do your laundry before that time or after 6:00 p.m. on these days to avoid rust discoloration of clothes. If your clothes become discolored, please notify the Public Works Department at 630-554-3242.

The Public Works Department flushes all fire hydrants in March and September under the recommendation of the Illinois EPA. Flushing does a number of things including cleaning of water mains and producing fresh water to areas of the system that have low or very little usage.

Flushing cleans the water mains by running high flows of water through fire hydrants to get rid of iron deposits that could produce colored water and, in some instances, plugged water meters. Flushing also helps produce fresh water by opening hydrants at the end of water mains and pulling fresh water all the way to the end of the line. This helps if a resident lives in a new subdivision that has little water usage.

REMEMBER – if the Village crews are in your area, do not do laundry until after 6:00 p.m. on the days of flushing. Also, before running your hot water, run all cold water taps first to make sure the water is running clear. Only when it is running clear, that is when you want to run your hot water.

The department will be putting up signs to alert residents of the upcoming flushing. These signs will be placed throughout the Village the week before the flushing.  Please watch for them.

This information provided by the Village of Oswego