Over the next 24 months, Trenton Water Works (TWW) will be painting 3,501 fire hydrants in its five-municipality service area. Each hydrant will receive a different color indicating its waters flow rate.

“We’ve been inspecting fire hydrants for operability and flow rate over the last few months and we now plan to vary their color to indicate how quickly water flows from them to fire personnel and emergency responders,” said Michael Walker, Chief of Communications and Community Relations.

According to TWW, the current hydrants will be stripped of their old paint and receive a layer of primer accompanied by two fresh coats of paint. The hydrants will either be painted light blue, green, orange or red to indicate how many gallons of water the hydrant spews per minute.

The code is as follows: light blue: 1,500 gallons per minute; green: 1,000-1,499 gallons per minute; orange: 500-999 gallons per minute; red: less than 500 gallons per minute.

In hopes of encouraging safety, TWW is urging the community to refrain from painting the fire hydrants. Walker said, “We ask that residents not paint or decorate fire hydrants, which prevents fire personnel from knowing a hydrant’s flow rate during an emergency.”

If you have questions about TWW’s hydrant paint project, including reporting hydrants that have been knocked over or are not functioning properly, please call TWW’s Construction and Maintenance at (609) 989-3222.

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