Service Interruptions
Why Don’t I Have Any Water
From time to time, Del-Co Water crews may be working in your area, flushing hydrants, repairing pipe due to a water main break, or we may be relocating an existing water pipe or installing a new water pipe. It is also possible that service may be briefly interrupted if we are working on your meter.
We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding of this occasional but necessary disruption. As a part of our commitment to excellence, our crews’ target window is to make repairs and have the water restored as quickly as possible. If you are not sure if your contact information is up to date, we strongly recommend that you contact a customer service representative at 740-548-7746 and review your current information.
Service Interruption Notifications
Provided your contact information is on file and up to date, Del-Co will attempt to notify you by phone call, text, email, or mail before your service is interrupted. Although advance notifications of an unplanned line incursion may not always be possible, we communicate with our customers as quickly as possible. Out of courtesy, we do not disturb customers with notifications late at night or in the early morning hours.
Service Restoration
Upon the restoration of your water service in the event of a line break, Del-Co crews begin the disinfection process by flushing water through adjacent hydrants to remove any debris or trapped air in the lines. Please allow the crews to complete the flushing of lines before using a significant amount of water. Waiting reduces the amount of air or debris that can enter your plumbing, clogging screens, aerators, and other fixtures. Do not consume tap water, ice, or drinks made from tap water or raw foods rinsed with tap water lacking disinfection. Disinfect water by boiling for 1 minute. Safe alternative sources of potable water include bottled, treated, or distilled water.
Upon rescinding of a boil advisory, you may experience air or debris in your plumbing. You may want to run your faucets for a minute to flush any minerals collected
in your plumbing system. Run cold water in the highest and farthest bathroom plumbing fixtures from the water’s entry point into your home. Run cold water only for 3 minutes for each faucet not used in the last 24 hours. If individual faucets have low pressure, the same minerals from your plumbing system might be clogging the screens and will need clearing. Flush home automatic icemakers: make three batches of ice cubes and discard all three batches.
Water Main Breaks
Main breaks are unpredictable for various reasons. Variations in weather conditions cause the ground to shift, creating conditions for a pipe to break. Additionally, sudden pressure fluctuations and the normal aging process of water mains also create an environment ripe for pipe failures. Safely restoring water service is Del-Co’s top priority and will work as quickly as safety defines to restore your service.
Whenever possible, we will contact you with a phone call, text, or email notifying you of a service disruption. As a courtesy to our customers, we do not issue alerts late at night or in the early morning hours.
Sequence of Work
Our crews isolate the pipe by shutting off isolation valves and temporarily placing the water supply out-of-service for the time necessary to make the repairs.
After repair or replacement of the broken pipe, it is thoroughly cleaned, disinfected, and flushed before reconnected to the system. Like any new plastic container, a new pipe can produce a new pipe taste and odor. The taste and odor issues are not uncommon and will usually go away after a few weeks. It is not in any way harmful, only aesthetically displeasing.
Upon the restoration of your water service in the event of a line break, Del-Co crews begin the disinfection process by flushing water through adjacent hydrants to remove any debris or trapped air in the water lines. Please allow the crews to complete the flushing of lines before using a significant amount of water in your residence or business. Waiting reduces the amount of air or debris that can enter your plumbing, clogging screens, aerators, and other fixtures. Do not consume tap water, ice, or drinks made from tap water or raw foods rinsed with tap water lacking disinfection. Disinfect water by boiling for 1 minute. Safe alternative sources of potable water include bottled, treated, or distilled water.
Upon rescinding of a boil advisory, you may experience air or debris in your plumbing. You may want to run your faucets for a minute to flush any minerals collected in your plumbing system. Run cold water in the highest and farthest bathroom from the water’s entry point into your home. Run cold water only for 3 minutes for each faucet not used in the last 24 hours. If individual faucets have low pressure, the same minerals from your plumbing system might be clogging the screens and will need clearing. Flush home automatic icemakers: make three batches of ice cubes and discard all three batches.
Property Damage
The Right-of-way easement on your private property allows Del-Co to install and maintain waterline, branch water lines, hydrants, valves, and service lines from the waterline to the road right-of-way. It also gives us legal permission to install your water meter on your private property.
The perpetual easement provides access in, over, under, and upon on your private property with the right to erect, construct, install, and lay, and after that use to allow for the operation, inspection, repair, maintenance, replacement, and removal of water pipelines and appurtenant facilities, together with the right to ingress and egress over adjacent land.
Del-Co shall pay any damages which may arise to crops, as well as repair any damages to fences, drainage or field tile, driveways, or other structures from the laying, maintaining, operating, repairing, replacing, and final removal of said water lines and shall grade, seed, and mulch any ground area disturbed by us.
Due to our service area’s large size, Del-Co responds to hundreds of main breaks each year. The restoration of your property may take 2-4 months to complete restoration work, weather permitting.
Water Main Replacements
Our water distribution system contains more than 2,000 miles of water mains. Del-Co replaces water mains due to road widening projects, defective water mains, the need to upsize water mains to improve flow, or the water mains are at an age where their useful life is near the end.
Typically water main replacements will require some interruptions to your service. Provided your contact information is on file and up to date, Del-Co will attempt to notify you by phone call, text, email, or mail before your service is interrupted. If you are not sure if your contact information is up to date, we
strongly recommend that you contact a customer service representative at
740-548-7746 and review your current information.
Although advance notifications of an unplanned line incursion may not always be possible, we communicate with our customers as quickly as possible. Out of
courtesy, we do not disturb customers with notifications late at night or in the early morning hours.