A Heads-Up For Everett Water Customers

If you get your water from the City of Everett here’s a heads-up for you covering the next 24 hours or so…

City of Everett drinking water maintenance crews will replace couplings on Transmission Line 5 starting on Wednesday, Oct. 5. The work requires the transmission line to be out of service for some connections and may result in limited service for others. A map of the work area and affected customers is located online.

The work is estimated to take up to 24 hours, and all customers who will be without service have been notified that they should prepare for at least 24 hours without water service. Water service will be shut off west of Bickford Avenue at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 4.

The shutdown will impact single family customers directly connected to the transmission line and smaller water systems who buy their water from Everett, both of which are outside the city limits. Larger wholesale water systems have storage reservoirs that allow them to provide uninterrupted service to their customers.

“Replacing these couplings is necessary to the long-term functionality of the transmission line and is part of our routine maintenance program,” said Dave Davis, public works director. “Public works staff is doing the important work of coordinating with our valued wholesale customers to minimize impacts to individuals.”

The City of Everett water system serves nearly 600,000 customers in the city and, through its wholesalers, throughout much of Snohomish County. Transmission Line 5 is 51 inches in diameter, and has a 50 million gallon per day capacity.

Work schedule – timeline 

• 10 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 4 – City crews will shut off service connections and close necessary valves. Crews will drain the pipeline west of Bickford Avenue. The line will take several hours to drain.
• Daylight, Thursday, Oct. 5 – Crews will begin replacing couplings at various locations on the transmission line.
• Early evening, Oct. 5 – Once the repairs are complete, refilling of the transmission line will begin. This must be done gradually to protect the line.