The city utilities came to my neighborhood this week to replace a few fire hydrants. They had to shut off water to my home during this work. When the work was done, one of the water fixtures in my home no longer worked at all and one had drastically less water pressure. Both that had issues were at the highest elevation in my home(i.e. all basement fixtures worked fine)
I called the city and they sent someone out to look at it. All the worker claimed that he did was use a wrench and turn each faucet aerator a quarter turn or so. This seemed to completely resolve the issue.
Why did this happen and is it expected?
Here is one of the faucets that didn't work at all after the maintenance work:
Best Answer
The most likely scenario is that the work on the system disturbed sediment/debris that migrated to your home water piping, plugging up your faucet aerators. Rather than the "quarter turn" you describe (which would accomplish nothing) it is probable that the aerators were removed, flushed, and reinstalled to restore flow.
You should remain diligent, it is not uncommon for additional debris to continue to cause issues. Not just aerators but toilet fill valves as well.