Drought Conditions Prompt Water System Flushing

Thursday, September 17, 2020

NEWPORT, R.I. – With Rhode Island now under a statewide Drought Advisory, the Newport Water Division will be conducting low-flow flushing of the City’s water distribution system beginning Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020 in order to help improve its Newport customers’ water quality.

Due to high summer temperatures coupled with lack of rainfall, some customers over the last several days have reported experiencing an unpleasant taste in their finished drinking water. As a result, Newport Water Division staff will be conducting a low-flow flush of the system, which is expected to be completed by the end of the day.

Water Treatment Operators were first alerted to potential taste and odor issues from customers in Newport late Tuesday, Sept. 15^th afternoon. After source water testing, Station 1 treatment operators changed the source water on Wednesday, Sept. 16^th and optimized the treatment processes to account for the worsening drought conditions.

Coupled with today’s low flow flushing of the distribution system in Newport, these corrective actions are anticipated to remove all remaining traces of the issue.

The taste and odor concerns are associated with water produced from the Station 1 water treatment plant, which services customers in Newport. Water produced from the Lawton Valley Plant is not experiencing the taste and odor issues.

Optimizing finished water quality as well as costumer experience is a hallmark of Newport Water. We continue to strive to bring our costumers the highest quality water possible. We take any and all customer concerns seriously. Customer health and satisfaction is top priority for the staff of the Newport Water Division.