The city of St. Helena is asking residents and businesses to lower their water usage beginning Friday, as it works to address discolored water and repair the main wastewater treatment plant.
“Over the last several months, the City of St. Helena has continued to take actions to address the discolored water that some residents and businesses have been experiencing,” a community alert on Tuesday read.
The city said the cause of the discoloration is most likely accumulated iron and rust sediment, according to an alert sent out in August.
St. Helena will have to work with a “variety” of vendors to fix the problem, the city said, which will involve hydrant flushing and careful inspections of the entire plant.
Two storage tanks were filled with water and will be used in place of the plant, as well as the Stonebridge Wells and water from the City of Napa while the main water plant is temporarily offline.
The work is expected to last until spring of next year, although the city is only asking residents to be mindful to conserve usage until Dec. 15, at which time the main plant will be back.
Other work will include the installation of new pumps from the “Clear Well” to Tank 1A, the main tank for the city.
The city hopes that with voluntary conservation efforts, mandatory conservation will not be put in place.