The Village of Addison is committed to keeping you informed as we continue our work to deliver clean, safe and reliable water and wastewater services to you during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Due in part to the pandemic, several businesses and schools have been shut down or used less frequently, and as a result, building water quality degradation becomes a silent but serious issue. When water is not used, the disinfectant in the water will dissipate. Without proper disinfection microorganisms can grow on pipes, fixtures and tanks. The protective scale that forms on the water pipe interior could have destabilized. Without this protective scale toxic metals like lead can dissolve or shear off as particles and end up in your drinking water.

How to prepare a building for re-occupancy:

The best immediate action is to flush the entire buildings water system. Flushing each of these areas can take from 10 to 30 minutes. Flush the cold water lines first, and then the hot water lines. The hot water tank can be drained directly; it can require roughly 45 minutes to fully flush a typical 40-gallon hot water tank. Replace all point-of-use filters, including the filter in refrigerators and ice makers. Flush all water using appliances like sinks, drinking fountains, toilets, ice machines, dishwashers; interior and exterior water spigots.

Flushing clears out the low quality water that accumulated during low to no water usage and replaces it with high quality water from the municipal supply. The fresh water will help mitigate the problems (loss of protective scale and biofilm growth) that may have emerged while the water was stagnant. If your staff is available to flush, start now. Starting flushing now means less deterioration of water quality in the building and a sooner recovery to normal conditions.

Inspect equipment such as cooling towers, boilers, pumps, and backflow preventers to make sure they are maintained and flushed in accordance with the manufacturer’s requirements. Clean showerheads, faucet aerators and other fixtures that can produce aerosols that people could inhale.

Develop a water safety plan, a long-term plan for keeping water quality high and protecting building occupants and visitors. Collect water samples for analysis at a qualified laboratory (only recommended for buildings with specific at-risk populations like children and the elderly).

For more information pertaining to maintenance and flushing of your water lines contact the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791 or visit https://www.epa.gov/sites/files/2018-09/documents/flushing_best_practices_factsheet_508.pdf or https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/building-water-system.html

COVID-19 – Caring for Closed Facilities