The week the water ran brown: Roy officials flush hydrants, promise solutions in council meeting

In the late afternoon of July 14, the City of Roy posted to its Facebook page a public notice that stated the following:

“In response to recent reports of brown water, the City of Roy Public Works Department has flushed several fire hydrants on the south end of town to help remove sediment and improve water clarity.”

The city thanked residents for its patience and support, and encouraged those still experiencing the issue to contact city hall.

Water was on the minds of many at the city council meeting later that evening. First it was John Hnatishin, vice president at Skillings, Roy’s contracted engineering firm, who gave his scheduled update on various task order items, many of which address the city’s water system.

Hnatishin said that the firm can now move to the design phase for water treatment, now that the state’s Department of Health is reviewing the city’s submission for water infrastructure improvements. The city council previously approved Well No. 2 as the site of the new reservoir.

Hnatishin recommended the construction of a booster pump station at the reservoir site in order to provide adequate pressure to McKenna Meadows. According to Hnatishin, the 30-percent design for the reservoir has begun, along with the preliminary layout for the water treatment plant, reservoir, and booster pump station. The topographic survey for the site has already been completed.

The site of Well No. 2 is located at the south end of town off of 292nd Street and state Route 507. The plant will treat the iron and manganese from the water at Well No. 2.
Next up was Public Works Director Ryan Fuller, who acknowledged the ongoing water issue.

“I know it’s gotten worse, so I am working with Evergreen Rural Water,” Fuller said. “They are sending out two representatives. We’re going to start doing additional testing. We’re going to look at mapping, we’re going to look at ways that we can alleviate the discoloration and the issues with the water on the south end of town. At the moment, we’re going to frequent flushing just to help try to keep fresh water in the system so it doesn’t get stagnant.”

The public works director said he and the city are trying to “better the issue until we can make a permanent solution for it.” He noted they also flushed back in May.

“So, normally, it’s been roughly every six months, every four months, when we flush, but now if it’s increasing, we’re going to unfortunately flush more, not trying to make a giant mess, but to keep the cleanest water we can for everyone, that’s what we’re going to do,” Fuller said.

During the citizen’s comment portion of the meeting, Roy resident Tim Reid said it’s no secret the city has serious water issues.

“It’s so bad that community members elect to add filtration systems to their house, so that way they can benefit from having clean water,” Reid said.

He asked the council if there was any money set aside for residents to submit claims for if they choose to add a filtration system to their house. (The council does not reply during citizen’s comments.)

“As a community member, we’d like to see this issue resolved in a timely manner, and we’ve got a lot of community support behind us that wants to see the brown water go away,” Reid said. “Our families are at risk. We’re afraid that there’s health conditions that we are exposed to, and I’m afraid that the city could be obligated to make us whole again for the health effects that we’re exposed to.”

In her mayor’s report, Kimber Ivy informed Reid that there isn’t anything set up for claims for filtration, but offered hope for the future.

“The executive team was able to secure $1.5 million toward water infrastructure needs, and we are moving at an unprecedented pace to rectify the water issues,” Ivy said. “The executive team, as far as I know, we have been working on this issue for the full amount of time that I have been in office and have made leaps and bounds and strides from what has been seen in the last 50 years of the known water issue.”

Ivy added that the council is moving quickly with the ideas as they are brought to them. Then, after a moment of hesitation, she offered an ambitious goal for the city: clean water in a year.

“I think if we don’t see any hiccups or any delays or anything, I think that, with how fast we’re moving, that could be a realistic timeline,” the mayor said.