Dead End Flushing

Potable Water Flushing Program

Project Description

The Water & Sewer Department (WSD) has an annual potable water flushing program. This program ensures our customers the best quality water is being delivered from the Lime Softening Plant and the Reverse Osmosis Plant to our residence, hotels, condominiums, and place of business.

Currently Marco Island has 212 dead end water mains and hydrants that are flushed on an annual basis. At each flushing point, the Field Technician will begin to flush water from a hydrant or blow off (usually a two-inch poly tube service line at the end of a dead end main). The Field Technician will take two chlorine residuals: at the beginning of the flush and at the end. This insures the chlorine residual is staying in the system and the chlorine residual is within the regulated requirements. If the initial chlorine residual is below a .2ppm, this signals the Field Technician to flush this area more frequently. Also, sampling of the potable water pH is included, this ensures the water does not become too aggressive and adds to the taste of the water. The WSD has set a standard of 10-minutes for flushing: this allows the Field Technician to calculate the amount of water that has been flushed per minute at a given pressure. For flushing ports that are bigger such as hydrants, totalizing meters are used to record start reads and finished reads. There are a total of 127 potable water flushing points on Marco Island.  

Project Timeline

Annually.

Project Costs

Project Scheduled Completion Date

Ongoing.

Project Map

All of Marco Island Customers.