Water Main Break Repairs Send Murky Water To Chester County Taps

Carrie Collins thought she was imagining things at first.

"It looked like black coffee with no cream in it," she said of the water that was pouring from her kitchen faucet. "It was gross."

Collins and others in the Richburg and Fort Lawn areas of Chester County had the same experience. The water in the sink, the shower and the toilet was either orange or brown and smelled like mud.

The problem started with a water main leak on Highway 9 in Fort Lawn on Wednesday, said Mike Medlin, executive director of Chester County's Metropolitan Water and Sewer District. Medlin said crews had to shut down the system while they repaired the leak, and then turned on two massive pumps to refill the water tanks. Two pumps running at once put a great deal of water through the pipes in a hurry.

"That increases the velocity, the flow in the pipes, and that stirred up the sediment," Medlin said.

That sediment is mainly rust that usually settles out and sits at the bottom of the pipes.

"When it's stirred up, that causes the discoloration, and that's what it is," he said.

Employees of the water and sewer district made phone calls to large water users, like the hospital, factories and local restaurants, but did not notify residents. Medlin said he called the local newspaper, and is posting information on the district Web site, but there's no health risk and therefore no reason to let everyone know.

"If I had to issue a boil water order, then I would have let every resident know individually," Medlin said.

That doesn't sit too well with Collins, who would have liked some warning that her water was going to be unusable for a whole day.

"Someone should have let us know what was going on," she said.

The dark-colored water first appeared in the Fort Lawn area, then moved through Richburg by Thursday morning. Officials said the rusty sediment is heading toward Chester overnight, but they're taking steps to flush it from the system before it does.

Fire hydrants along Highway 9 east of Chester were opened up Thursday afternoon to bleed out the discolored water. Medlin said when it reaches Chester some people could still see a slightly yellow or orange tint to their tap water, but it's nothing to worry about.

"Most people aren't going to drink that anyway. I wouldn't," he said. "But our indications are that there's still plenty of chlorine in it, and the ph is normal."

He said when it's clear, you can drink it.

Water and sewer officials will keep running tests, but they have found no bacteria or contamination that endangers the drinking water.

"I don't think it will last very long," Medlin said.

Chester County does not have the use of a automatic community notification system that could send automated calls to residents about a problem like this.

Medlin said he'll speak with county 911 officials about having a similar system in the future.