Highland Village residents should expect their water to change in taste, smell and feel as the City starts its annual water disinfectant conversion on Wednesday.
According to the City, the annual maintenance is a routine process that aims to keep distribution lines operating efficiently.
During the process, which is expected to last until April 8, the City will use groundwater from the wells and switch disinfectants from chloramines to free chlorine.
The City said residents should expect a temporary change to the taste, smell or feel of their water because of the change to groundwater.
“Groundwater is naturally softer and may feel slick on the skin,” said the City in a press release. “Your water remains safe for drinking, cooking, bathing and everyday use.”
Highland Village said this maintenance helps avoid the City from having to do extensive system flushing during the summer, which would require a lot of costly manual labor and might not get rid of all of the biofilm.
According to the City, biofilm feeds on ammonia and can degrade water quality, increase pipe corrosion and pose potential health risks. During warm summer months, the growth is accelerated.
The City said the process also saved nearly 20 million gallons of water last year.
Highland Village has previously flushed the system by releasing water from fire hydrants when disinfection levels dropped, but it wasted millions of gallons of water and didn’t fully remove the quickly-returning biofilm.
After the end of the maintenance process on April 8, the City will gradually reintroduce chloramine and flush the system to return water to normal conditions.
For more information, visit Highland Village’s water disinfection webpage.
