Town Tells Residents Not to Do Laundry for a Week

They won't be using much Surf in Surf City, North Carolina, this week: The entire town has been told to avoid doing laundry because the public works department is flushing water lines. The department "will begin a directional flush of the hydrants and waterlines" from Oct. 7 to Oct. 11, the coastal town of 2,300 people said in a Facebook post. "The purpose of this flush is to remove excess iron from the water lines." The town said residents may "experience discolored water" and while it does not pose a health risk, "residents are discouraged from washing clothes during this time," the Port City Daily reports.

The Charlotte Observer reports that some residents complained about the length of time they were supposed avoid doing laundry, while others were annoyed that they hadn't found out about the warning until after they had washed their clothes in the discolored water. "Luckily it was just one load and they seem okay, but I would be extremely upset if a couple hundred dollars of uniforms had been ruined because the only notification was through social media," one woman wrote on Facebook. (More North Carolina stories.)