Home Guess Who Elusive Eddie Sports Reviews Editorials Ask Allie School News Feature News Contact Us Who Are We

Feature News

Clearing the Water

by Katherine Swett and Haley Lineham

KRHS students are all familiar with the water problems at the high school, but most don’t actually know why the water turns brown. They ask only that the problem be fixed, and soon. “This school should demand clean water,” said Casey Harrigan, a freshman at KRHS.

The water problems at the high school will soon become a thing of the past, according to Wolfeboro Director of Public Works, David Ford. The Department of Public Works is currently working on a short term repair that will be completed in the next 2-8 weeks. The project is to feed the high school water system directly from the water tank in front of the high school.

David Ford said in an email to Knightly News Monthly, “It should be noted that before, during, and after a ‘colored water problem,’ the water remains safe.”

When the signs go up that say, “Don’t Drink the Water,” students are being led to think that the water is toxic. However, the water is treated with chlorine which kills all bacteria in the water. This treatment doesn’t get rid of the disgusting look, taste, or smell of the water, though.

Two waterlines service the high school: a newer line in front of the school and an older line in back of the school that connects to the vocational center. The older pipe was installed around 1900, making the pipe over 100 years old. The newer pipe was installed about 20-25 years ago.

The older pipe is subject to tuberculation, a process over time where iron bacteria builds up inside the pipe. This is the icky brown stuff we see in the water. All of the pipe repairs within the past 30 years have been done with a new type of cast iron pipe with a cement lining that prevents tuberculation from occurring, Ford explained.

After the bacteria builds up, a disruption in the system can shake free some of the brown particles. A disruption could be something like a high water flow going through the pipes that dislodges some of the iron tuberculation. The particles are suspended in the water, coloring it brown. Whenever the water is brown, the school is told not to drink the water as the Public Works Department flushes the system to rid it of the build up in the water.

A major repair will be done within the next year that will abandon a large section of pipe stretching from Clark Road to the Windrifter, Ford said. This project will make the colored water problems of the town much less severe when it’s completed at the end of this year.