Brown water in Willoughby or Aldergrove? The Township is flushing mains until December 18

You fill the tub, and it comes out the colour of weak tea. If you live in Willoughby or Aldergrove, there’s a decent chance a Township crew is opening a hydrant somewhere up the street.

The Township is flushing water mains in Willoughby and Aldergrove from Monday, October 19 to Friday, December 18. The work depends on the weather, so dates can shift. Flushing pushes a fast burst of water through the pipes to scour out sediment, and it’s done to head off bad tastes, odours and cloudy water later on. In the meantime, the Township says you may notice pressure dropping for a while, and some discolouration or grit in the water. Its notice is clear that this is temporary and not a health hazard.

Before laundry day

Run the cold tap for a moment and look before you start a load of whites. That’s the Township’s own advice, and it’s the one that saves a shirt. It also suggests keeping a jug of water in the fridge for drinking and cooking while crews are working in your neighbourhood.

The notice doesn’t list streets or times, and it doesn’t say how long it lasts at any one house. If you want to know whether crews are on your block, ask.

Who to contact

When you call, have your address handy, roughly when it started, and what you’re seeing: colour, bits in the water, a smell, low pressure or no water at all. Mention whether it’s one tap or every tap in the house. Keep the after-hours line for an actual emergency, like no water at all on a Saturday night, not for “when will you be on my street?”

Fraser Health’s rule of thumb is to start with whoever supplies your water. If that doesn’t fix it, then go to Fraser Health. Jot down who you talked to and when; it makes the second conversation much shorter.

Is this a boil water notice?

No. A flushing notice is routine maintenance. Fraser Health issues a boil water notice when it finds a health risk in a water source, and those are listed on its drinking water advisories page. If a boil notice is ever posted for your system, follow it, flushing or not.

And brown water during flushing season isn’t automatically flushing. If yours doesn’t clear, or it smells odd, report it rather than waiting it out.

Not in Willoughby or Aldergrove?

This notice is the Township’s, for those two areas. Langley City runs its own water system, so a City address needs the City’s water page, not this notice. If you’re on a private well, municipal flushing has nothing to do with your water; Fraser Health has a page for well owners on testing and what to watch for.

A bit of background for Aldergrove: part of its supply comes from Township wells, and that groundwater is naturally high in iron and manganese, so it’s blended, filtered and treated at the Aldergrove Water Treatment Plant before it reaches the mains. The rest of the Township gets mostly Metro Vancouver water from the mountains. Our water and sewer explainer has the full picture.