Water Utility Director, Larry Johnson, responds to Lake Worth College Park resident vis-à-vis flushing of hydrants:

I spoke with Ms. XXX at XXX this morning and explained the reasons for the high levels of hydrant flushing required recently. The extra flushing is needed during the summer, due to high temperatures and the corroded 2 inch steel water pipe in the College Park area. These conditions cause the chlorine in the pipe to be reduced quickly and flushing water is needed to assure adequate chlorine levels are maintained. Unfortunately, this requires large amounts of water to be discharged from the hydrants. We cannot direct this water to plants, etc. because the volume of water would damage landscaping, and it would require much more labor.

The department is taking both short term and long term actions to reduce the amount of water flushing:  

• The department will perform another chlorine flush from August 14th to September 6th. This will reduce the amount of flushing after September 6th. 
• The department is planning capital projects to replace the 2 inch steel water piping in the longer term. A pilot project will start this fall, and the piping in College Park is planned for replacement by the end of 2017.

Let me know if you have further questions.
Thanks,
Larry Johnson