28 May We’re washing out our water tank on Nunn Mountain, a regular maintenance exercise every 3 years
How much water do you have in storage? OWASA maintains five water storage tanks throughout Carrboro and Chapel Hill – representing about eight million gallons of water stored every day to ensure customers have access to it 24/7.
Like any other piece of big and important equipment, water tanks need to be inspected and maintained. On June 3, we will take the storage tank on Nunn Mountain (located in the northern part of our distribution system in Chapel Hill) out of service to drain it, inspect it, wash it, and then bring it back online one week later.
OWASA washes out each of its water storage tanks every three years. We do an interior inspection to check for any rust build-up or debris. If we see either accumulating, we clear them out, and we always thoroughly wash out the tanks to keep them clean. The Nunn Mountain water tank will be back in operation on June 10. Customers will not be impacted by this routine maintenance work; water service will be available as usual.
To ensure a continued supply of water at this distribution hub while we are washing out the tank, we will connect to the Town of Hillsborough’s water system. For resiliency in times of maintenance work and emergencies, OWASA’s water system is connected to neighboring water systems such as Hillsborough’s, as well as the City of Durham’s and Chatham County’s. These interconnects and water transfers are made possible through mutual aid agreements, with each system acting as a back-up to the other. Transferring water between systems is part of regular operations in the water utility sector. In fact, recently, OWASA transferred water to Durham when they were making an upgrade to one of their treatment plants.
OWASA is Carrboro-Chapel Hill’s not-for-profit public service agency delivering high quality water, reclaimed water, and wastewater services. On the lake, in the field, at the lab and in the office, our diverse team manages the community’s water system 24/7. Learn more about Carrboro-Chapel Hill’s water and wastewater system at www.owasa.org.
For more information:
Ken Loflin, Water Supply and Treatment Plant, 919-537-4232, kloflin@owasa.org