Pennsylvania water authorities help small systems deal with leak control and conservation issues
The Centre Hall Borough Water Department in rural Pennsylvania knew it was losing water—a 2005 water audit revealed an annual water use of 121 million gallons with 41% unaccounted. The problem was it didn’t know from where.
“We knew what section it was in, but we couldn’t pinpoint it because we have a sewer line running pretty much parallel with our water line,” says water operator Lynn Dutrow.
Water systems can suffer from a variety of types of leaks, including service line leaks and valve leaks, but in most cases, the largest portion of unaccounted-for water is lost through leaks in the mains. There are many possible causes, and often a combination of factors leads to their occurrence.
The material, composition, age, and joining methods of the distribution system components can influence leak occurrence.
Centre Hall’s problem resulted from substandard initial installation of the distribution system and generally antiquated components. The city’s main line, constructed of unlined cast iron, was installed in about 1885, but ironically, lines that were put in during the late 1950s were causing the majority of the trouble.
Much of the line was lying on solid rock. That coupled with weather changes over a period of time caused the cast iron to break. “The new pipe is all ductile iron and we don’t have a problem with that,” Dutrow says. “Probably all of [the old system] was dug by hand and when they laid it in they embedded the pipe in better material.”
Although Centre Hall’s 750 customers are all water metered, the water department’s predicament was similar to other small systems in the state. Pennsylvania has over 2,200 community water systems, more than 75% of which serve fewer than 3,300 people. Many of these systems face an uphill battle as they’re going in so many different directions at once; they’re lacking funds, equipment, and personnel to put out fires.
“Whether it’s their age or just the nature of the beast, there are some systems that are purveying water, and more often than not, they’re not going to have tight seals or whatever it is that would cause leaks. Even some of the best systems have ongoing issues,” says Susan Obleski, Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) director of communications. “To think that leaks in water distribution systems can account for up to 70% of the losses, it is a major area of concern.”
Aggressive Outreach
The SRBC recently concluded a three-year pilot leak detection project in partnership with the Pennsylvania Rural Water Association (PRWA) with the goal of assisting small systems in locating and repairing leaks and establishing long-term management practices. The program and support services, free of charge to participating water systems, were made possible in part though a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Growing Greener Program.
The first step of the project was identification. The commission had a specific interest in not only selecting small systems but looking in areas that they’ve identified as “potentially groundwater-stressed areas.”
The Susquehanna River Basin region is considered to be a water-rich watershed, but there are certain areas where the resources either are currently stressed or projected to be overly stressed. In eastern states, where the average rainfall is 40 inches per year, water has long been thought unlimited. But with changing population patterns, increasing irrigation, and increasing personal water use, many water-rich areas are finding that the water will not always be there when they need it.
“It can be growth and development where the population is growing more quickly than planned; the underground geology of the area could also be a limiting factor,” says Obleski. “Most of the areas in Dawson and Lancaster counties are growing really quickly in regards to population and the long-range planning may not have been as aggressive as it should have been.
“Leak detection is a tangible piece of the overall solution. The next step is in getting the funds for those facilities to implement improvements.”
Part of the criteria for the 10 systems selected for the SRBC project was that they served fewer than 10,000 people and water loss had to exceed 20%. In most states, 10% to 15% water loss is an expectable rate. One of the largest challenges faced in determining the amount of water loss with many of the systems was a simple lack of data. A handful of the systems did not even have meters installed.
“You can only go so far in pushing them to try and get accurate figures. Some small systems can be losing quite a bit of water—50% to 70% is not unimaginable for a rural system with problems,” points out John Hood, PRWA executive director.
“I talked to a system the other day that wasn’t even one of the smaller systems and they were pumping up to 100,000 gallons a day and billing for 10,000. They knew they were losing 90% of the water,” adds Hood. “These are the types of horror stories that we get.
“Our biggest contribution was in building awareness, stressing the importance of water audits, providing training in leak detection, and even going out and finding leaks. We made an impact with some of the systems, but with others the figures were so crazy that it was hard to determine to what extent.”
In the case of Centre Hall, its limited array leak detection equipment consisted of Geophone and Metrotech listening devices. The PRWA brought in trained staff and a high-performance correlator to find the leaks, helping the borough reduce its water loss usage to 80-million gallons with unaccounted-for loss at an acceptable 16%.
“We have our own equipment and help, and as soon as we find any leaks we go in and fix them immediately,” says Dutrow. “We can get to all of the pipe; it was just a matter of knowing where the leaks were located and getting to it.”
Dutrow estimates that without the help of the program, he would have had to bring in a private contractor to locate the leaks at a cost of upwards of $20,000.
Plugging the Leaks
The PRWA staff personally reported the discovery of 69 leaks during the onsite technical assistance for all 10 systems. Hood calls Centre Hall Borough a “homerun,” but in some instances, the lack of data and personnel issues did not let the PRWA make a reportable success. “Often when we sat down to get figures it was a mess. There were times when we doubted the figures we were getting, but we didn’t doubt the leaks we saw, the repair notices, or the education, so we still felt good about what we were doing.”
The goal in general was to drop the unaccounted-for water by whatever percentage, but more to build awareness and educate systems on problems and solutions.
“Just having the information about their condition will help the communities if they choose to go after small-interest loan programs,” remarks Obleski.
The second and third components of the leak detection project were to develop an ongoing, in-house leak detection program and establish proper procedures and practices for water accountability and financing. The partners also provided information on the Pennsylvania Water Resources Planning Act, known as Act 220 of 2002. At the completion of the program and the workshops, communities of the participating water systems were issued certificates certifying them as “Water Saving” communities.
Through the pilot leak detection project, the PRWA conducted 20 classroom-training sessions with overall attendance of 765 water-system operators, managers, and board members. The most popular classes dealt with line location leak detection and water conservation audits, rate structuring, and water meter operations.
“Small system people take their jobs seriously. Education is always good and any class you can take just makes you a better manager or board member,” states Hood.
In the water meter class, for instance, officials emphasized, “This is your cash register. It’s important to have the correct type and size of meter.”
Benefits Outweigh Costs
Before the leak detection project, many of the small water systems were not as active in reporting and dealing with water-loss issues.
“In general, as long as you’re providing water to the customers and staying on top of things, leak detection does not get as much attention as the small systems would like to give it,” says Hood. “A lot of times they don’t have the equipment or the time. One aspect of the program was to bring water loss into focus and showing how leak detection and repair can save money.”
The economic benefits of leak detection and repair can be easily estimated. For an individual leak, the amount lost in a given period of time, multiplied by the retail value of that water, will provide a dollar amount. While there are operators who find leaks in their systems, the board is not always receptive to fixing the problems in light of the associated costs. Many officials do not initially see the financial benefits to the community.
“A strong motivator to water boards is that you can tell them that if you’re pumping twice as much as you have to, even if you have to invest $80,000, you can show them that it’s coming right back within five years,” says Hood.
According to the National Drinking Water Clearinghouse (NDWC), other potential benefits of leak detection and repair include increased knowledge about the distribution system, which can be used, for example, to respond more quickly to emergencies and to set priorities for replacement or rehabilitation programs; more efficient use of existing supplies and delayed capacity expansion; improved relations with both the public and utility employees; improved environmental quality; increased firefighting capability; reduced property damage, reduced legal liability, and reduced insurance because of the fewer main breaks; and reduced risk of contamination.
If a utility does what it can to conserve water, customers will tend to be more cooperative in other water conservation programs, many of which hinge on individual efforts. A leak detection program can be highly visible, encouraging people to think about water conservation before they are asked to take action to reduce their own water use. Leak detection is an opportunity to improve services to existing customers and to extend services to the population not served.
Because Pennsylvania is a town hall kind of state, the challenge for water conservation and efficiency agencies is dealing with the community’s lack of resources and attention to issues. According to Obleski, all the water authorities involved were very receptive to the PRWA auditors coming in and doing the work.
“Part of the reason that PRWA was brought into this is that we have a very good rapport with small systems and we are aware of the challenge,” says Hood, adding that the agency has 840 water and wastewater systems across the state that are members. “Because we weren’t there with a big hammer telling them what to do, we had an easier time gaining entry into the systems. That’s also what allowed us to make an impact and provide the education.
“If you’re on the board of a small system, the number-one thing that you want is to be able to put safe water out to your community. That’s tied up with whether or not you want to keep low rates. Some of these towns have not raised the water and sewer rates for years, which is not intelligent from where we sit because they’re facing a train wreck down the road. When you talk about water conservation, it’s not always high on their list.
“PRWA cares about water conservation and also about helping small systems to remain viable and succeed,” Hood adds. “We believe that if a community runs its own water system, and people are involved, it not only gives them direct control, but it is good for the involvement and the health of the community to be meeting every Tuesday at the borough building and discussing issues about delivering quality water. When that is removed the community loses something.”
Staying on Task
While the SRBC and the PRWA had tremendous success getting small-system personnel to focus and to take action, they still faced the challenge of keeping ongoing attention on the issues.
Systems were then asked to do a follow-up audit, and the PRWA lent them equipment and advanced training to locate future leaks.
“If the leak is huge and has a large impact to the system, there is an obvious motivation to fix it. Some of the leaks do stay and that’s just a result of there not being enough impact on the system or they don’t have the time or finances to fix it,” says Hood.
“There’s no doubt that you’re better off fixing a leak. They affect the whole viability of a system,” he adds. “If you’re running an efficient water system, then you have money for chemicals, pump calibrations, and paying people a reasonable wage to do their job. It’s just a circle. If you’re losing water and fighting to keep up, then certainly it affects water quality as well.”
Repair clamps, or collars, are the preferred method for repairing small leaks, whereas larger leaks may require replacing one or more sections of pipe. The NDWC asserts that on average, the savings in water no longer lost to leakage outweigh the cost of leak detection and repair. In most systems, assuming detection is followed by repair, it is economical to completely survey the system every one to three years.
A harsh reality often facing small communities is the lack of funds to work with in their budgets. Even though there are a variety of grants and government-funded programs for helping systems save water, the need far outstrips the resources. The US Department of Agriculture, for instance, gives $560 million in loans and grants to rural systems nationwide. The PRWA is looking into establishing a revolving fund where, as Hood explains, “We can say that, yes, we understand the problem, so here is a low-interest loan.
“There are a lot of challenges in dealing with a small system, but if you can’t do everything, maybe you can at least start working on the problems,” he adds. “You’ll get a sense of accomplishment as you go along and drop your unaccounted-for water and see your budget changing.
“Water and wastewater plants are no different than anybody else; one of the biggest challenges is to hire responsible people and get the finances to support them. You need a responsible board, good help from other agencies, and a good working relationship with your regulatory agency.”
Continuing Conservation Efforts
Pennsylvania has a valid concern about water conservation. Since the beginning of the 1900s, the Susquehanna River Basin, in particular, has experienced droughts in every decade except the 1970s. During the 1990s, periodic low flows resulted in droughts every two to four years. The only interruption came in 1996 when there was a massive flood.
The 13-million-acre Susquehanna River Basin is the second largest watershed in the eastern United States, encompassing over half the state of Pennsylvania as well as parts of New York and Maryland. The river basin borders the major population centers of the East Coast and, although relatively undeveloped, has experienced water-quality challenges and overuse of the resource.
In view of the basin’s considerable impact to the area, the SRBC has a longstanding and successful partnership with the Commonwealth Department of Environmental Protection in the management of water resources. As part of the Pennsylvania Water Resources Planning Act, the SRBC received a grant to establish a State Water Resources Technical Assistance Center. The project, being developed in partnership with the Delaware River Basin Commission, which has a long history of water conservation work, is planned to be operational by 2009.
Largely Internet-driven, the center will be a “one-stop shop” where industry, government, and the public will be able to go for a host of water conservation information and resources (including regulatory, technical, and public information). Other facets will include a voluntary statewide water conservation program for all water users and a water conservation education program. Effective practices and technologies will be identified, along with education components including a program to promote voluntary water losses and practices to encourage groundwater recharge.
“There is a lot of information out there,” Obleski says. “Having one location where anybody, whether it’s technical or industrial personnel, the general public, or other agencies, can go to get information and identify the principles, practices, and technologies, and background research will be a unique opportunity.”