Somewhere along the Neerlandia/Northplex line, there is a leak.
According to utilities officer Barry Billey, who spoke to County Council this week, it is estimated that in 2013, about 800,000 gallons of water were lost or unaccounted for. The Barrhead Regional Water Commission line had been inspected a few times over the last couple of years, and some problem areas had been found and repaired, but a leak remains, wherever it is, and the cause of which is still currently unknown.
Billey indicated that they originally thought the problem was at the tie-in into Northplex/Arcana, but that this turned out to be a different issue altogether, a T that did not have a thrush block which they fixed by pouring concrete behind it.
“We examined the area there, because that’s where we thought the leak was, but apparently it isn’t,” Billey said. “However, I have a different location that I’m looking at, so I’m going to check that out.”
Billey explained that once all of the readings from the various meters around town and county are added up and compared, it works out to around a gallon and a half per minute.
Doug Drozd, deputy reeve for the county, indicated that this translates to about $7,600 per year.
“When you add up all of the county metres, and compare it to the town’s, which is a different metre, and there’s a kind of difference to it, you start to wonder what the heck? I mean, when it [the line] was put in, everything was good,” Billey said. “Maybe something got pulled apart or something cracked, but we’re going to figure it out.”
A leak is a leak after all.
