City of La Pine points to air from 2 new water lines for ‘milky’ tap water
Utility crews flushing hydrants to pull air from lines
La PINE, Ore. (KTVZ) -- La Pine residents expressing concern or simply wondering about the "milky" appearance and taste of their tap water were told by the city Monday that it was due to a lot of extra air in the system from two newly installed water lines.
Here's the city's statement, posted on its website after "an abundance of calls" about the water quality issue:
"The city of La Pine On Wednesday, March 15th and Friday, March 17th the City of La Pine tied in two 16” mainlines to our existing water system. These tie in’s have resulted in an abundance of air in the City’s mainlines. This is causing the water to appear milky. There have also been reports on Facebook that the water has a different taste. The milky appearance and taste are both due to the air.
"The City tests the water you drink twice a month, and there have been no tests positive for bacteria since May of 2021. The lines that were tied in were also tested for bacteria prior to connection to the City’s system last week, and at various times throughout construction prior to the tie in.
"Currently, the City’s utility workers are flushing hydrants at high spots in the system to attempt to pull the air more quickly from the lines. This practice will continue for the rest of the day and into the following days to attempt to reduce the air in the water lines. However, there may still be instances of air for the next 7-10 days. These tie in’s were of substantial size, and to flush the air out of the systems entirely is extremely difficult.
"Attached to this notice is a map of the tie in locations, existing city water lines, mainlines installed,
and highest impacted area. If you are interested in reviewing the test results for the water provided
by the City please contact Ashley Ivans, Assistant City Manager, at aivans@lapineoregon.gov or
City Manager, Geoff Wullschlager, at gwullschlager@lapineoregon.gov. For phone calls, please call
541-536-1432.
"The City would like to thank you for your patience as we work through the line flushing and the
abundance of calls relating to this issue."
