VANDALS TARGET WAREHAM WATER SYSTEM
The Wareham Water Department experienced a serious act of vandalism late Sunday evening August 23, 2009 which resulted in discolored water throughout the distribution system.
Unknown person(s) opened a fire hydrant in a secluded area off Great Neck Road at 10:37 pm. According to the water department monitoring system, 2,000,000 gallons of water was discharged from the hydrant.
The incident was reported to the Wareham Police and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. The Water Department also issued an advisory via its Reverse 911 system regarding the discolored water.
The Water Department first became aware of the act at 4:00 am Monday when the water towers dropped to the alarm level. At that time, the automated system alerted water department staff who began assessing the situation.
“The control and alarm system worked exactly as designed”, said Mike Martin, Water Superintendent, “never-the-less this kind of act is a threat to the public water supply and something we take very serious.”
The cause of the dirty water is all the wells coming on line sequentially as the tower level fell. A fully open hydrant is capable of discharging 3,500 gallons per minute.
As the towers drop, the individual wells are started at pre-programmed levels to meet demand. By the time the towers hit the alarm set point, all seven wells are running as designed to do. With seven wells running, the flow rate through the pipes is 4,700 gallons per minute. While this volume is enough to retard the drop in the water towers and maintain system pressure, that velocity scours the inner walls of the water pipes discoloring the water.
As a precautionary measure against bacteria, the water department has been adding a low dosage (0.4 ppm) of chlorine to the water supply since May. The chlorination is scheduled to continue until after Labor Day.
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