City Continuing Efforts to Reduce Water Discoloration
August 18, 2023: The City is updating residents on the water treatment plant's efforts to reduce manganese in drinking water. Residents across the city have reported discolored water in the past month, which is caused by historically high levels of manganese in our supply. This is not a local problem, and it is occurring across the region because of excessive precipitation and runoff. Manganese is a naturally occurring mineral in our surface water and is present in the environment from weathering of natural sources like rock and soil.
At the levels that have been reached in the drinking water, the manganese is not harmful. Newburyport continues to provide safe water to its residents well within all state and federal regulations.
On July 28th, a pre-oxidation pump, which is used to treat manganese, went down for a brief amount of time at the Water Treatment Plant. This led to higher levels for a short period, but is not the principle cause of the continued manganese presence.
The Water Treatment Plant has been working closely on this issue, and has taken a number of mitigation measures including treating the water with potassium permanganate. The City is cleaning its water tanks and will plan to pursue its biannual hydrant flushing, which will also assist in improving water quality. The finished water leaving the plant is showing very low manganese levels, which should be seen across the city’s distributed water shortly.
If anyone is experiencing tinted water, we recommend running the cold water from either a first-floor bath tub or outdoor sillcock, which will flush the system. The brown water should clear up within a day.
We have also received a higher number of calls from West End residents experiencing discolored water in the last few days.This may be occurring because of construction in the Philips Drive neighborhood that has required the contractor there to shut the water off and turn it on again. We expect this is affecting neighborhoods in the areas of Curzon Mill Road, Daniel Lucy Way, and Pine Hill Road. We recommend addressing the issue in the manner described above.
If you did laundry and brown stains appeared, the Department of Public Services has a product that it offers for free that removes these stains. You can pick it up at the DPS Headquarters at 16A Perry Way, Newburyport between the hours of 8am-4pm Monday to Friday.
If you have any questions, please contact the City of Newburyport, Department of Public Services Water Division at 978-465-4466.