The leak detector is used to listen to line flow and measures that flow by scales. According to utilities director Wayne Thomas, workers took measurements on several different areas of the line and calculated exactly where the leak was located.
“This was a major find,” said Thomas.
After uncovering the leak it was discovered the line had at one time been plugged at the end and had come off, which caused the leak.
“There is no telling how long this line has been leaking this amount of water,” said Thomas. The earth was etched out underneath the line so the water was seeping into the ground instead of coming to the surface.
If the line was actually leaking the amount of water suspected by Thomas the city was loosing approximately 24,000 gallons of water per hour. Within a 24 hour period that calculates to 576,000 gallons lost into the ground.
The city purchases around 300 million gallons of water from the Logan Todd Regional Water Commission (LTRWC) for $1,090,000 annually.
There were 19 leaks discovered in the month of January by the city. One was on North Summer Street and was leaking 20 gallons a minute and another was at the ITW pump house leaking 25 gallons per minute. Thomas says finding these leaks and stopping them should dramatically lower the city’s 35 percent unaccounted for water loss statistics.
Council members are hoping the recent discoveries will effect how much water they have to purchase from LTRWC thus lowering the amount spent, which would ultimately have an effect on the recent rate increase by LTRWC for 13 percent.
It was mentioned by council if more unaccounted for water could be found then maybe the 13 percent increase passed by LTRWC come March 1 could be less.
Russellville still hasn’t made a decision on how they plan to deal with the increase or how much will be passed onto the customers.
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