Jan. 23, 2008
Another Water Main Break
Sign of Aging Infrastructure or Just Winter?
By Tony Seaton
Huntingtonnews.net City Editor
This time it's on Fifth Avenue at 22nd. in Huntington. A 12" water pipe has burst and caused another water outage in that immediate vicinity and street closings.
Two lanes of Fifth Ave. and all of 22nd street at that location are closed. "Because the water is just too high for people to drive through," according to city hall. A spokeswoman from city hall said she'd also been informed there was another break elsewhere, but WV American Water spokeswoman Jessica Greathouse said she'd not been informed of that yet, if in fact there had been, because if so, it was most likely a smaller line than the two big main breaks they are responding to now.
The line on Sixth Ave. was 24" concrete pipe, an extremely high pressure main that drained the entire Huntington water plant when it broke Tuesday night causing an estimated loss of 20 million gallons of water.
The 12" pipe at Fifth Ave. is not concrete, but Greathouse wasn't sure at 2 p.m. if it was cast iron, which tends to become brittle in cold weather. Typically the type of break the water company deals with in winter are 8" and 6" lines whose breakage is "par for the course," according to Greathouse, in January and February.
Breakage of pipes in winter is not unusual in Northern cities whose aging infrastructure typically involves water pipes whose life span is about 100 years. WV American Water attempts to replace about 1% of that infrastructure a year, Greathouse said.
"Unaccounted for water" such as leaks like these cause, is a big problem for water companies, as breakage of pipes increases the amount of water that goes somewhere that the water company cannot account for and therefore bill somebody for.
American Water, the parent company of WV American Water and Ohio American Water among other subsidiary companies, is the largest investor-owned water company in the country and they've recently asked for a rate increase of nearly 15% from the Public Service Commission.
By the company's own admission they lose about 33% of the water they pump. Greathouse says that's largely due to due to aging infrastructure in companies they acquire. "As American Water continues to acquire older systems, like Clendinin; " which American Water took over last October, "they lost about 50%, or more, of their water, so we take on that unaccounted-for water, [as part of American Water's larger system-wide percentage loss.]
Greathouse pointed out other causes for water loss that American Water cannot charge to a customer, and is part of the reason they're asking for the rate increase. "Unaccounted for water can also be fire protection; when somebody goes to put out a fire from a fire hydrant, that hydrant isn't metered, because that would slow down the water pressure." She also blamed "customers who would rather bypass the meter rather than pay for it, and tap into our lines straight to their home, where they're using our water but not paying for it." She says that's ''pretty common.''
To improve leak detection and therefore lessen unaccounted for water, American Water, at the behest of the Public Service Commission, is installing listening devices that will help them pinpoint leaks quicker. The cost for installing that system is figured into the agreement that American Water has with the PSC for the 14.9% rate increase which still requires final approval.
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Sign of Aging Infrastructure or Just Winter?
By Tony Seaton
Huntingtonnews.net City Editor
This time it's on Fifth Avenue at 22nd. in Huntington. A 12" water pipe has burst and caused another water outage in that immediate vicinity and street closings.
Two lanes of Fifth Ave. and all of 22nd street at that location are closed. "Because the water is just too high for people to drive through," according to city hall. A spokeswoman from city hall said she'd also been informed there was another break elsewhere, but WV American Water spokeswoman Jessica Greathouse said she'd not been informed of that yet, if in fact there had been, because if so, it was most likely a smaller line than the two big main breaks they are responding to now.
The line on Sixth Ave. was 24" concrete pipe, an extremely high pressure main that drained the entire Huntington water plant when it broke Tuesday night causing an estimated loss of 20 million gallons of water.
The 12" pipe at Fifth Ave. is not concrete, but Greathouse wasn't sure at 2 p.m. if it was cast iron, which tends to become brittle in cold weather. Typically the type of break the water company deals with in winter are 8" and 6" lines whose breakage is "par for the course," according to Greathouse, in January and February.
Breakage of pipes in winter is not unusual in Northern cities whose aging infrastructure typically involves water pipes whose life span is about 100 years. WV American Water attempts to replace about 1% of that infrastructure a year, Greathouse said.
"Unaccounted for water" such as leaks like these cause, is a big problem for water companies, as breakage of pipes increases the amount of water that goes somewhere that the water company cannot account for and therefore bill somebody for.
American Water, the parent company of WV American Water and Ohio American Water among other subsidiary companies, is the largest investor-owned water company in the country and they've recently asked for a rate increase of nearly 15% from the Public Service Commission.
By the company's own admission they lose about 33% of the water they pump. Greathouse says that's largely due to due to aging infrastructure in companies they acquire. "As American Water continues to acquire older systems, like Clendinin; " which American Water took over last October, "they lost about 50%, or more, of their water, so we take on that unaccounted-for water, [as part of American Water's larger system-wide percentage loss.]
Greathouse pointed out other causes for water loss that American Water cannot charge to a customer, and is part of the reason they're asking for the rate increase. "Unaccounted for water can also be fire protection; when somebody goes to put out a fire from a fire hydrant, that hydrant isn't metered, because that would slow down the water pressure." She also blamed "customers who would rather bypass the meter rather than pay for it, and tap into our lines straight to their home, where they're using our water but not paying for it." She says that's ''pretty common.''
To improve leak detection and therefore lessen unaccounted for water, American Water, at the behest of the Public Service Commission, is installing listening devices that will help them pinpoint leaks quicker. The cost for installing that system is figured into the agreement that American Water has with the PSC for the 14.9% rate increase which still requires final approval.
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