Mountain Water Co. personnel eliminate significant leaks
New testing methods have pinpointed the location of several large leaks in the University area.
MISSOULA, Mont., May 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Mountain Water Co. continues to make steady progress at reducing leakage in their system. This Wednesday May 21st, Mountain Water's leak crews will shut down Beckwith Avenue at Helen Avenue in order to repair a large main leak exceeding 300 gallons per minute.
Leaks as large as 500 gallons per minute do not surface in the Missoula valley, making them extremely hard to find. Mountain Water's operations and engineering crews have developed innovative new methods for identifying leakage in their system, including acoustic techniques and a relatively new method in the industry called a "temporary district metered area," or DMA.
A temporary DMA established recently by Mountain Water's field crews pinpointed the location of 4 leaks totaling over 500 gallons per minute. Three of these leaks have already been repaired, while the 4th and largest leak repair exceeding 300 gallons per minute was postponed until after the University of Montana graduation ceremony. Beckwith Avenue will be shut down to allow this leak repair to be completed.
Water leaking in the Missoula Valley returns to the Missoula aquifer, but does result in increased power consumption. Mountain Water's crews strive to balance this power consumption with the economic cost and carbon footprint associated with leak repairs.
"We will continue to focus on reducing leakage in our system in a way that is economically and environmentally sustainable," said John Kappes, president of Mountain Water. "It is our responsibility to balance continued investments in infrastructure with rate increases that are affordable to our customers."
About Mountain Water Company
Mountain Water Co. provides quality tap water, irrigation and fire flow to 72,000 residents in Missoula through 37 wells, 21 booster stations, 40 pressure reducing valve stations, 24 storage facilities with a capacity of more than 10 million gallons, and 320 miles of main. Additional information may be found online by visiting mtnwater.com or on Facebook at Facebook.com/MountainWaterCo.
SOURCE Mountain Water Company
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