Clintonville water customers are being told to keep a tap running to keep water lines from freezing up.
The city issued a notice Monday to all residential and commercial water customers to start running a stream of water immediately.
“Utility bills will be adjusted to take into consideration the extra water/sewer usage, and customers will not be charged for the extra usage,” City Administrator Lisa Kuss said in a news release.
Residents who do not run water or shut off their water stream without authorization will be charged for the costs of thawing or repairing their service.
The city issued the following guidelines:
— The stream of water running from one faucet should be approximately the thickness of a pencil/pen - quarter inch in diameter. Those customers that have already experienced a freeze-up that were asked to run a larger stream should continue with that size.
— The water needs to be left running constantly. Do not shut off the faucet when the temperatures warm up during the day. The city will inform customers when the flow of water can be safely shut off. Warmer temperatures typically mean that frost levels will go deeper into the earth’s surface.
“The city will inform customers when they can stop running the water, however this may be well into the month of March,” Kuss said. “Even if the weather/temperature does improve, please do not stop running water unless notified by the city.”