Water, Water Everywhere and Nowhere

In 2014 it was determined by this observer that the city was losing an unaccounted for 130 million gallons (MG) of treated water per year.

The city water department blamed the loss on leaking old pipes, inaccurate meters and other miscellaneous causes.

The department's consultant, Aqua-line Leak Detection Services* was paid an estimated $12,000 to do a treated water leak analysis in March-April of 2015.

In their final report dated 4/9/15 Aqua-Line made the following assertions:

a. “Once leaks are repaired, the city will be saving approximately $475 per day in water production costs alone.” based on costs of $1.50 per thousand gallons. “Savings will most likely be higher, as our water loss estimates are somewhat conservative .”

b. Leakage summary includes “discovered and repaired” supply side leaks totaling an estimated 210, 000 gallons per day (GPD). Or, 6.3 MG per month.

c. Discovered but not yet repaired leaks (as of 4/9/15) totaling 52,000 GPD or 1.565 MG per month bringing the total discovered loss of 7.865 MG per month.

The repaired leaks alone should have reduced the water loss by 75 MG per year which represents a major portion of the previous years unexplained loss.

By comparing the same months of pre-repair in 2014 with post repair months of 2015 we should be able to notice the results.

April 2014 loss 47MG; 2015 loss 48MG

May 2014 loss 49 MG; 2015 loss 48MG

June 2014 loss 49MG; 2015 loss 48MG

It appears from this small sample that instead of the expected savings of 7.9MG per month (assuming all repairs have been made) the city is saving 1 MG per month. At 1.50 per thousand gallons production cost the net cost of the loss is an estimated $123,000 per year.

The water department responded to questions concerning the discrepancies in the report by the Mayor and Council's water committee chairman by repeating the same answers from the year before and added the comment that the consultant may have had overestimated the size of leaks.

*not accredited by the Better Business Bureau

Paul Hunter

budhunter@frontier.com