Significant Water Leak Repaired

SWEET HOME, Ore. April 21, 2020 —  This past year the Sweet Home Public Works Department made considerable strides in reducing water loss by identifying and repairing over 120 leaks. As a standard process to identify water system leaks, staff detected a significant leak on an 80-year old water main along 9^th Avenue between Nandina and Poplar streets. The repair presented challenges to the team repairing the water main due to the leak location directly under a large storm drain line. Public Works staff relocated several water services connected to homes along 9^th Avenue onto a newer water main running parallel on 9^th Avenue. The team took several weeks to plan for the repair, and relocate those service mains. At that time, Public Works staff believed the leak was estimated to be approximately 72,000 gallons per day of water loss. 

As a part of the water leak repair pre-planning process, Public Works staff placed a flow measuring device downstream of the water leak in a nearby creek to estimate the volume of water loss. Staff estimated the creek volume to be 470,000 gallons per day before the leak repair. After the team made the leak repair, the flow measurement taken from the creek was approximately 127,000 gallons per day. This measurement shows the water loss was approximately 343,000 gallons, nearly 1/3 of the winter water production at the City's Water Treatment Plant (WTP.) 

Public Works staff will verify this calculation by monitoring the daily water production volume at the City's WTP. At this time, since the leak repair, early water production meter readings indicate the repair is preserving 343,000 gallons of clean drinking water per day.

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If you would like more information contact the City of Sweet Home Public Works Department at (541) 367-6359.