Water line flush on Pine Island riles resident
A Pine Island resident is concerned about a pipe flushing fresh water into the May River, but a Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority spokesman said Wednesday the release is just normal procedure.
Rebecca Baker said water has flowed continuously from a drain pipe at the end of her street on Pine Island for nearly three weeks, and she is worried that thousands of gallons of fresh water could harm the salty May River.
BJWSA spokesman Matthew Brady said the increased flow from the pipe was necessary to keep chlorine levels in the drinking water safe, and to adjust operations of a new 36-inch water main servicing the Bluffton area. Normally, about 400,000 gallons of water are flushed from the system monthly, but the amount was increased to 700,000 gallons in July and 1 million in August, Brady said.
The higher volume being flushed isn't a problem for the May River, S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control spokesman Jim Beasley said. The pipe's discharge location is far enough away from the river that chlorine levels wouldn't rise, and the amount of fresh water being discharged into the much larger May River would have no more effect than minor rainfall, he said.
Brady said line flushing is a routine procedure, necessary to maintain drinking water. Flushing the pipe to Pine Island is the only way to raise low chlorine levels on the dead-end pipe, he said. Chlorine keeps the water clean and free of pathogens, making it safe to drink. The amount of water flushed from the system increases in summer, because the chlorine in the water exiting the pipe breaks down faster in sunlight, he said.
Brady said BJWSA performs flushing at locations systemwide across both counties it serves, but he did not have an exact count of the number of places.
An automatic device installed on the Pine Island line in 2012 discharges water at regular intervals, typically in the morning. Previously, the pipe had to be flushed manually, Brady said. That occurred at a hydrant a short distance from Baker's property, leaving her without water pressure when the line was flushed, she said.
Baker said the line used to be flushed onto the road, rather than in the marsh. Brady did not know where the water drained to when the line was flushed from the hydrant.
Baker said Wednesday she's never seen a line flushed this long, calling it a "huge waste of a natural resource."
"They aren't being good neighbors," she said.
Follow reporter Matt McNab at twitter.com/IPBG_Matt.
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This story was originally published August 20, 2014 at 8:33 PM with the headline "Water line flush on Pine Island riles resident."