Going back to September, we’ve been reporting on sporadic problems with discolored water around West Seattle. Usually, such problems are localized to a specific neighborhood that can trace them to a specific incident – water-line break, fire-hydrant use, etc. But in this case, the problems have been geographically scattered, and in most cases, Seattle Public Utilities says, related to two things: Routing changes in the water system while the Myrtle Reservoir was out of service for earthquake-resistance work, and activation of a wellfield to supplement supply during the recent dry months. Tonight, two weeks after the most-recent update, Ingrid Goodwin at SPU tells us neither of those situations is a factor any more:

Seattle’s water supply conditions have improved, which enabled SPU to completely turn off the wells on November 10. The wells may have been a secondary cause of the discoloration problems that residents were experiencing. Customers should expect that it will take a few weeks for the well water to circulate out of the system.

Myrtle Reservoir has been back in service since October 30 and water configuration operations have returned to normal.

SPU will continue to monitor the system and modify operations as needed to minimize stirring up sediment that can lead to temporary discoloration.
From November 3 through November 13, SPU received 39 customer calls indicating yellow, brown, or rust colored water in the general West Seattle and Georgetown/SODO area. We expect the number of customer calls to go down now that operations are returning to normal.

If you do see this problem at your residence, here’s the number SPU’s been asking customers to call: 206-386-1800.