The City of St. Cloud recently announced that they had completed a 6-week ice pigging regiment that included 28 miles of pipe and the use of 76,600 gallons of ice. According to the city, during those 6 weeks they received 4 water discoloration complaints, with 23 of those days with no complaints.
This morning, Monday September 13, the City of St. Cloud began cleaning two of its ground storage tanks using divers and vacuums – much like what is used to clean pools. The city expects to complete the process within about one week. Upon completion of the tank cleaning they will flush the transmission line that comes out of the plant to distribute water throughout the system.
Once the ground storage tanks and transmission line have been fully flushed the city will begin a systematic unidirectional flushing throughout the entire city. The city will be conducting the city-wide flushing two times to ensure effectiveness – which is a standard practice when conducting unidirectional flushing.
According to St. Cloud, a series of events took place during backlashing during peak usage times. Water was directed through a bypass pipe straight to the ground storage tanks. The water was treated but did not go through the polishers which is when the final remnants of resin are removed. To ensure that this doesn’t take place again the city will no longer be backwashing the system during peak flow.
According the St. Cloud Communications Director, “we are in the process of getting alarms and turbidity meters put on the plants so that if this happens again in the future, we will know it immediately and can address it.”
The City of St. Cloud is asking anyone that might be experiencing water issues to contact them immediately at 407.957.7344, or on their website at StCloud.org, or the city’s StCloudConnect app.
