Did you know that fire hydrants can produce up to 500 gallons of water per minute? These are no simple mechanisms, and it’s extremely important that our hydrant system is regularly maintained.
Currently, we have a contractor performing hydrant flushing for all of our approximately 240 fire hydrants.
If you haven’t already, please expect a door tag at some point this summer alerting you that you may see running water down the roadway and slightly discolored water during the process. To experience as minimal an impact as possible, do not run water in your home while hydrant flushing is taking place near you.
We perform hydrant flushing two times per year, once in the fall and once in the spring. Due to our current water restrictions, we are completing these flushes more slowly to reduce the impact to our water table. You can expect to see the hydrant flushing crews out again this October and November.
Hydrant flushing, contrary to popular opinion, is not to maintain the hydrant, but is actually for the quality of our water and our water system. In some areas where water usage is low, hydrant flushing creates needed movement to clear the system of sediment and to stabilize the water’s pH levels.
This clearing of sediment is why the water is brown when initially coming out of the hydrant, but after a few minutes of flushing is crystal clear.
Hydrant maintenance, which includes an inspection of the inner mechanisms, regreasing and pressure tests, helps to find issues with the hydrant. Think of fire hydrants as cars: They run best when you take care of them, make the necessary repairs and perform regular maintenance.
These maintenance tests not only keep our hydrant systems healthy, but it alerts us of issues that we need to address to keep high levels of water flow.
In 2021, we tested the city’s hydrants and found 14 with issues that needed to be addressed — and two of those needed to be replaced. The contractor performing the work has completed 11 of these repairs/replacements and is awaiting parts for the final three repairs.
As with everything since COVID-19 hit, delivery of these parts has been delayed. Given the age of our historic town, we have many makes and models of fire hydrants, some of which are easier to purchase parts for than others.
But please note: Our Fire Department is very aware of the three hydrants that are low-flow, what hydrants are high-performing and what hydrants are not currently working. Before every fire-related call, the fire department ensures they are aware of the closest three hydrants and the condition of each.
Since about 99 percent of our fire hydrants are functioning well, every Manitou Springs home has complete fire hydrant coverage in case of a structure fire. Regardless, repairing the remaining three hydrants is an important priority that we take extremely seriously, as it’s our job to ensure the fire department has high-performing hydrants that help them do their job.
Moving forward, you can expect to see fire hydrant flushing continue to take place twice per year, and fire hydrant testing to take place once every five years — this is the recommended practice from the Nation Fire Protection Association.
As always, if you ever have questions regarding our hydrant system, the Public Works Department is more than happy to answer your questions/concerns! Our hotline number is 685-2639.
Courtesy of the Manitou Springs Public Works Water/Sewer Division