Grants Pass, Ore. — Clean water is a commodity many often take for granted.
In Grants Pass, water from the Rogue River goes through a long process to get treated before it’s ready to drink.
But through a pilot program the city started this year, Grants Pass Public Works has discovered not all the water that is treated is making it to your home.
“Through listening to the pipe, they are able to detect if there are any leaks,” Public works director Jason Canady.
Public Works Director Jason Canady says 10 leaks have been verified in water mains and pipes underground in a 13-mile section of northwest Grants Pass.
“Anywhere ranging in size from 0.1 gallons per minute which is a tiny, tiny leak up to a large multi-gallon per minute leak,” Canady said.
Canady says most are small leaks in locations where the water service taps into a main, or an area where two large main lines meet.
But time also plays a role in some of the issues.
“Sometimes it’s just a pipe that’s failing. The big pipes sit in the ground for 80 years, they rot out on the bottom from rusting, and then they just finally start leaking and fail,” Canady said.
It’s estimated the amount of water that’s lost is roughly 16 million gallons per year.
However, Canady says that’s a small percentage when compared to the 2.2 billion gallons of water produced for the city each year.
Nonetheless, it is treated water that’s going to waste.
That’s why Canady says the start of the leak program was so vital.
“We chemically treat it, we filter it, we pump it out… sometimes through multiple pressure zones. And then for that water to just leak out with it not going through somebody’s water meter is really a loss. And we want to minimize that as much as we can,” Canady said.
The city plans to check 20 to 25 miles per year until the entire water system is checked.
And then the old locations will be revisited as new leaks will have likely formed.
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