Hydrant flushing will begin on October 8th. We plan to follow the normal route which is posed onlne at flushing.topsfieldpublicworks.org

Flushing removes sediment from the water mains, identifies hydrants in need of repair and checks system fire flows. Customers will have rust colored or black water while the water mains are flushed and for a period afterwards. The work will be conducted on weeknights from 9 PM until 1 AM to minimize the disruption. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Manganese levels in areas being flushed will be higher than normal and may exceed levels described in the drinking water advisory issued in November 2013. Do not drink, cook or make formula with the discolored water. Avoid using hot water while the cold water is discolored. Doing so will allow sediment to accumulate in your hot water tank and will take longer for the hot water to clear.

The Board of Water Commissioners have set the FY2019 water rates.   The new rate schedule is available online and includes an 26.1% increase in the water rate.  The rates are based on the budget approved at Town Meeting in May 2018 and the water use forecast for FY2019.

The rate increase is due to increases in the Water Department's reserves which have been increased in anticipation of bond costs for the Water Treatment Plant Project and short-term borrowing for capital projects.

October 1st Update: The restriction has been removed.

The Town appropriated $10.4 million on June 20, 2017 for the construction of a water treatment plant and associated piping.  Substaintial completion of the project is expected in January 2019 which will be followed by several weeks of testing.  We're planning on using the plant to produce water by the end of February 2019.  Progress updates will be posted on a regular basis.

September Update: A great deal of progress was made over the summer.  The booster pumpstation and aeration tower were delivered.  MOst major components of the plant are now in place including all main pumps, chemical injection panels, chemical feed control panel, filter control panel, main SCADA panel, variable frequency drives, and storage and day tanks.  The ceiling was installed along with portions of the fire suppression, plumbing and HVAC systems.  The electrician is running conduit for the electrical and control systems.  The roof was installed and the masonry veneer is already half completed.  Concrete finish work was completed in below grade tanks.  Ladders were installed in the tanks and the floating decanter systems were installed in the backwash/recycling tanks.

Water customers will receive a copy of the updated Manganese Drinking Water Advisory notice in the mail shortly.  The Water Department instituted an advisory in 2013 due to manganese contamination.  Recent tests have indicated on of our sources exceeds the MassDEP limit of 300 micrograms per Liter of manganese.

We conduct hundreds of water quality tests each year. Results are now available on our Water Quality Site which includes information about which water sources are in use. The site has been under development for several years and more functionality will be added as time permits.