City of Malta to begin hydrant flushing, alley maintenance

Malta Mayor John Demarais enjoyed the Homecoming Parade from outside of the Phillips County News office last week and shared some important information in the process.

The City’s hydrants will be flushed beginning on Wednesday, September 30th, to clear the manganese build-up from the water system. He warned that residents may notice discoloration and black particles in their water. Households should run their faucets to clear out the pipes before running their washing machines, and to run empty dishwashers and washing machines through a cycle before doing any laundry.

Both the poly and the chlorine levels will be raised slightly following the flush in order to maintain the proper suspension levels.

The City will also be trimming trees and branches and blading all the alleyways in the coming weeks and Mayor Demarais urged residents to be prepared for that work to be done.

“Most people don’t realize that alleys are only 20 ft. wide,” he said, noting that there can be confusion about what the city and the property owner’s responsibilities are.

When asked about the proposed Chicken Ordinance, Mayor Demarais offered that he would have more say about the issue soon, but urged community members to send letters with their remarks and concerns to the city.

Mayor Demarais gave kudos to MHS, “This is the best parade I have seen in a long time!” he said. “Those kids did a really great job this year.”