Project Background
The City of Everett will take one of its transmission lines out of service for two days to install a bypass to a critical valve on the transmission line. The work requires transmission line 5 (TL5) to be out of service from early morning, Wednesday, Feb. 28, until early morning March 2. Some connections will experience loss of water service, and others may have limited service for up to two days.
Customers connected to the shutdown portion of the transmission line should be prepared to be without water for 48 hours.
Who Is Impacted
- City of Everett residents will not be affected.
- Customers east of Bickford Avenue in Snohomish to the Hand Road area north and east of Monroe will experience disruption to their water service. See project map.
- Affected customers will receive several notifications prior to the shutdown.
Work Schedule
- 12:01 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 28 – City crews will turn off service connections and close isolation valves located east and west of the Three Lakes Valve. They will then drain that section of the pipeline.
- 6 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 28 – Approximate time the transmission line will be turned over to the contractor, who has 36 hours to perform the work.
- 6 p.m., Thurs., March 1 – After the contractor’s work is done and the work area is disinfected, city crews will flush, fill and pressurize the pipeline, which will take several hours.
- Late evening, Thurs., March 1 – Service connections turned back on and water service restored.
- Early morning, Friday, March 2 – Shutdown concluded.
How to Prepare
- Purchase bottled drinking water prior to the shutdown (1 gal/person/day)
- Store water in sanitary food grade containers for potable use
- Fill a bathtub or large containers with water for flushing toilets
- Fill livestock troughs and water animals prior to the shutdown
Project Significance
This is the longest transmission line shutdown in recent history and will impact many customers. Work is being coordinated with the Washington State Department of Health and the Snohomish County Health District to protect the integrity of the water system, with robust communications to affected customers and water systems. TL5 is one of 4 pipelines that carry water from the Water Filtration Plant to the City of Everett for distribution to local customers and regional water systems.
The new system will be connected to the pipeline and will create a redundant and parallel valving system to this section of pipe that make maintaining the system easier, with less disruption to customers. The bypass will also improve flow regulation and allow water to be delivered down the line, should something affect the operation of that valve.
The City’s transmission lines are part of a regional water supply system that serves about 600,000 people throughout Snohomish County. Their primary function is to carry potable water to City of Everett reservoirs and to deliver water to our customers, from our largest wholesaler to single families. Transmission lines need regular maintenance that requires us to shut off water service to a portion of our customers in the affected area.
Water System Resources
The City of Everett Environmental Laboratory lab, accredited by the Washington Department of Ecology and the Washington Department of Health, is available to wholesale water customers for water quality testing. More information about the lab's services and costs.