Rust Flushing To Begin This Fall

The Public Works Department has begun the process of preparing the water system for rust flushing for the first time in a decade, according to Sheila McGauvran, public works director.

“We got the report from our engineers,” said McGauvran, “The first step in that process is our crews exercising the valves in the first phase of the flushing program.”

Currently water department workers are testing the valves on the system’s pipes to make sure they work properly. In order to flush pipes of rust, a selected number of valves have to be closed to force water down a specific pipe at a high velocity. The process won’t work with faulty valves, according to McGauvran.

Any faulty valves will have to be repaired or replaced. McGauvran said some of the valves hadn’t been touched for 20, 30 years and “when you go to work them, they don’t work right.”

“We expect it will take a few months to do, just the exercising and repairing,” said McGauvran, “We don’t expect to start the flushing until mid to late fall.”

She said that this fall the department will flush about 10 percent of the city’s pipes. The actual flushing will take place during the middle of the night, when the system is used the least. Water workers will be paid overtime for their late-night shifts handling the flushing process.

She said she didn’t know at this time what the process is going to cost, but will be able to project it when the actual flushing begins.

The job will stop in the winter due to the possibility of freezing the pipes, according to McGauvran. It will begin again in the spring and continue for 2 to 3 years.

“It is a time consuming process,” said McGauvran, “It is done with our own crews, on an overtime basis in the middle of the night. Everything else, the normal operation of the system has to take precedence. If a water main breaks or something else needs to be done with our crews, then we can’t be doing [the rust flushing].”

After the system has been completely flushed, McGauvran said the city will implement an ongoing process of cleaning the pipes so it won’t be as time consuming as this one.

McGauvran decided to begin the rust flushing after she discovered in May that . She said that most communities flush their pipes for rust every year, but noted that because Woonsocket has good water circulation that the rust buildup was not a safety concern.

A spokesperson for the RI Department of Health confirmed that the city had not failed any recent water quality tests.

McGauvran was hired by the city in January, after serving as director of inspections and standards in Providence and before that as director of public works for Coventry. She replaced Michael Annarummo who served as public works director for 14 years.