Shrewsbury Water To Be Turned Off, Maybe Brown, For Hydrant Flush

SHREWSBURY, MA—Some upcoming maintenance work in Shrewsbury will shut off the water, and might turn it brown for a bit, say officials.

The Water Department is operating valves and hydrants from Boylston Circle Northerly to the Wachusett Ave. area on Monday, Oct. 1, starting at 8 A.M. until approximately 3 p.m. This work will result in water being turned off temporarily in various sections and possible discolored water.

Water main cleaning and flushing is scheduled to begin on Oct 10 in this same area. A process called ice pigging, which introduces an ice mixture into the pipe lines to clean and rehabilitate lines, will be used to remove built up material.

The specific roads where the work will be performed are Boylston Circle, Gulf Street between Browning Road and Boylston Circle, Bryant Ave., Longfellow Road, Browning Road., Wadsworth Road and Wachusett Avenue. Once this work is completed, the Water Department will flush out the lines in the adjacent streets and neighborhood to complete the work.

Work is expected to be completed in a 10-12 day period. Residents will be notified in each specific area for when they will be affected. In general, the water will be off from 8 p.m. to noon in the section being worked upon until the lines are flushed out. Some sections may need to have the process repeated to achieve the desired results.

The initial phase of this project, the cleaning and inspection of the Browning Road Tank, which is a major source of the water supply in this area, was completed earlier in September. The new Water Treatment Plant which treats for manganese biologically is coming on line this fall. After allowing for the process to fully implement this fall and winter, the main transmission lines feeding this area and the center of Town will be flushed early next spring. As these processes are completed, officials anticipate manganese levels to be dramatically reduced and improved water quality.