Monthly totals of unaccounted water range from the high thirties to low forties, Fuller said.
Numbers, Mayor Lestine Hutchens said, that have prompted Elkin to commit to a Water Loss Study conducted by an engineering group.
"The numbers have become more startling," Hutchens said, "as our water usage numbers have reduced. It used to be that Chatham Manufacturing used a large percentage and now that it's closed, how much water we are processing has become more obvious."
Hutchens said that Elkin needs professional help to track water loss and target repairs. Public Works has broken the city into quadrants. Isolating high loss areas as East Elkin along the Chatham Manufacturing routes and residential neighborhoods of West Main Street and the streets around Elkin First Baptist Church. Pipes in those neighborhoods are some of the oldest in Elkin.
A grant from the Rural Economic Development Center for $40,000 is being combined with $20,000 matching funds from Elkin to discover any other breaks in the water system.
Engineering group Withers and Ravenel was contracted to operate what they call a "water loss analysis and corrective action plan." The firm is charging Elkin a fee of $57,000 to conduct the study and was responsible for writing the Rural Center grant application.
Michael Koser is project manager for the study. He said that the Rural Center was happy to support the studies financing because Elkin is on the moderate to high side of water loss.
"It's something that occurs when systems are old like Elkin," Koser said. "where there hasn't been water line replacement over the years." Koser said that the town of Elkin has been making great efforts to rectify their water loss situation.
The study Withers and Ravenel are conducting is strictly from an engineering basis and does not include any construction efforts. Koser said that the town's public works department would be able to use it to determine where water loss is happening, identify additional analysis needs and define project s for subsequent grant requests.
American Water Association processes will be used to create the water audit and determine the leak detection process.
Much of the analysis will be harvested from public documentation, meter readings, comparisons of aging infrastructure and a field portion which will utilize equipment that detects leaks through sound vibration equipment.
"Robert (Fuller) has been doing that to a certain extent," Koser said, "to hone in on major leaks. The audit will be used to focus where to look for them."
A portion of Main Street was dug up on Wednesday to repair a leaking service line. Elkin Public Works employees worked quickly to excavate and repair the line, one of many leaking water mains throughout the city.
Public Works Director Robert Fuller said that there are at least 20 leaks that they know of now and an untold number of leaks they don't.
"We only know about the ones that come to the surface," Fuller said. "Water follows the path of least resistance, so the ones that just empty into sewer lines we would never know about."
Anywhere a pipe connects to another pipe there is potential for water loss, Fuller said. The American Water Association allows for a 15 percent water loss as being acceptable with those conditions in mind.
"Any leak is a waste of water and money," Fuller said. "That's water we have already paid to have treated at the plant." Fuller said that it is the responsible thing to do, looking for leaks in a time of water conservation and drought.
The current voluntary conservation phase is part of a four step conservation plan that is followed by a mandatory, emergency and rationing phase. Each phase limits water incrementally.
Stage one of Elkin's voluntary Shortage Response handbook recommends that residents "inspect and repair all faulty and defective parts of faucets and toilets causing water waste" at their homes and businesses.
Elkin has remained in voluntary conservation since last year's drought levels peaked.
It was while Fuller was working with Withers and Ravenel on a water tank project for the CC Camp Road development and Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital expansion that they realized the need for further water loss research.
The half million gallon water tank will focus on providing water storage for file protection along CC Camp Road. Koser said that it should be up and running by the end of 2009 and will cost Elkin a total of $1.132 million. The Rural Center has already committed to providing $500,000, Appalachian Regional Commission has committed to $200,000 and Golden Leaf is providing $200,000 toward the water tank construction.
Fuller said that he hopes to put some grant funding from the water loss study toward future water leak repairs and servicing.
Post a Comment
