Water issues

Our water was turned off one day last week so they could replace a water main. This is one of many times since we’ve moved in that either the water or the power or both have been turned off, and, like most of them, we received a notice about it (the top of which is in the photo above). But unlike the previous times, we were fully prepared. Even so, other issues emerged.

Unlike the last time this happened, when I completely forgot about the power being shut off, I rembered and was ready. I’d had my shower, had breakfast, and made myself a coffee before the power went off. I gilled a pitcher with water and put it in the fridge, and I also filled our old whistling kettle with water so I could heat some water for coffee (we have an electric jug, but it’s in the laundry, were I use it to boil water to kill weeds, so it was probably dirty with dryer lint, and I didn’t have time to clean it). So, I was about as prepared as I could be.

When the power goes off in our area, our water does, too. But this time it was only the water, and that meant there was no doubt that the sewerage was working, too. So, the toilet was usable, but it would have no water. Or, would it?

After our weather event last April, I filled a very large plastic jug (it probably holds around 15 litres or so) with water to flush the toilets. I did that because another storm was predicted for the next day, and I wanted us to be prepared.

There hasn’t been another severe weather event since April (yet…), and the jug just sat around. I was never going to use it for anything else because it had no lid to keep dust and dirt out (I think we still have that lid somewhere…). This was the perfect time to get rid of that water, and that’s what I used it for (though it took a couple days to use it all).

The flyer said that when the water came back on, we should flush the system by turning on an outside tap, so I did. The air in ghe line seemed to get better pretty quickly, and I couldn’t see any discolouration, so it seemed okay. After I went back inside, the taps all worked find without banging, though for some reason one of the toilets made a loud bang the first time it was flushed.

What we found out the last time the water was shut off is that for several days afterward there’s air in the lines. This isn’t always obvious, like banging pipes or whatever. Instead, we draw water and it looks fine, and then quickly turns “milky” as all sorts of tiny bubbles form, and eventually break and the water clears. Last time this took several days to go away. It’s perfectly safe, but doesn’t look very appealing. So, I used the water in the fridge for drinking until it ran out a couple days later. The water still has the tiny bubbles to some extent, and while the bubbles aren't as bad and dissipates much more quickly, it just doesn’t seem to want to go away.

In the old days, after they finished working on a water main they’d flush the system by opening the nearest fire hydrant, but they don’t do that any more. Is this why it takes four or five days or so for it to get back to normal?

Meanwhile, a little while after the water was turned off, someone posted on our community’s Facebook Page asking if anyone else’s water was off. I suppose that it WAS easy to miss the flyer amid the free newspapers and advertising junk mail. When the water was back on, someone else posted about the “milky water”.

So, this time I learned that a little preparation goes a long way for a planned event, which means it would be even more useful for an unplanned event. I also learned that putting a pitcher of water in the fridge is a good idea—it’s more appealing. And, I also learned that while there may be no perfect way to alert affected people about planned interruptions to services, clearly flyers in the letter box isn’t necessarily the best or only thing they should do.

This was kind of similar to the notification about the changes to postal delivery that I blogged about last week. I posted a link to the NZ Post site son that community Facebook Page so people could check their own address for the delivery days. I actually did that because of the issues I saw with the water shutoff. Neither I nor anyone else should have to do that, but maybe there's no choice.

Still, this water outage, while annoying, as they always are, wasn’t too bad. Preparation clearly works. Now I just have to redouble my efforts to make sure we’re prepared for emergencies, too.