Woodstock Water - ugly, but safe

The following notice appears on the website of the City of Woodstock, Ill. at www.wooodstockil.gov:

"The City of Woodstock has been rehabilitating one of the city's water treatment facilities. The treatment plant that is being rehabilitated has been shut down since October 2009. This plant is being put back on line as of March 23, 2010. With this plant coming back into service there will be times when discolored water occurs. These disturbances should be limited to the first few days of the start up. The discoloration in the water is caused by the water in the pipes changing direction in the flow, this causes sediments in the pipe to be stirred up. The appearance of the water is not indicative of the safety of the water. This discoloration is primarily due to iron sediments. The water in the distribution system is chlorinated and poses no health threat.

"It is recommended not to wash white chothes (sic) until the discoloration is no longer present."

Publisher's comment: Wouldn't this condition have been a justifiable use of the new One-Step Notification system that the City bought and installed to provide notice to resident of importance issues?

I for one would not have felt secure in drinking the water while it was the ugly brown color. I don't know what's in the water - "primarily iron sediments". Stuff that was sitting in the pipes of the water system that got knocked loose when the water pressure increased.

Well, I don't want that in my body!

Did commercial businesses (restaurants, laundromats, daycare centers) get a warning that the water quality would change before the First Street pumping station went back online?