Underground pipe leaks a drain on Hamilton ratepayers
Leaky underground pipes steal between five and 10 per cent of Hamilton's treated drinking water - potentially billions of litres - before it ever reaches your tap.
That's why the water department is asking council for a 2022 budget boost to continue a high-tech experiment that lets the city hear" and fix underground leaks before they become dangerous - or a literal drain on ratepayers.
The proactive leak detection pilot started to cut down on the non-revenue" loss of 26 per cent of all treated water. That's not as bad as it sounds: the lion's share of that lost" water is unpaid but understandable municipal uses like flushing water mains or fighting fires.
Still, the average municipal non-revenue loss rate in Ontario is closer to 15 per cent, said water distribution manager Dave Alberton, and the city estimates it loses between five to 10 per cent of its treated water to broken pipes. It's definitely something we're looking to improve on," he said.
The proactive leak search involves lowering devices into water mains across the city to listen" for potential leaks late at night, when both car traffic and water use slow down.
The results allowed city workers to find, dig up and fix 61 otherwise unnoticeable leaks in the first eight months of 2021 - resulting in an estimated savings of 3.4 billion litres of water that might otherwise have drained away.
An annual leak detection program could save the city more than $800,000 in unnecessary treatment costs ever year.
Alberton said many people associate water main breaks with visible geysers" that flood roadways or basements - so sometimes residents are upset when workers arrive to dig up a seemingly pristine stretch of street hunting for leaks.
They'll say, What are you doing? There's nothing wrong here,'" he said. Then we'll take a few scoops out of the ground and water starts spraying out."
The city's high-tech hearing aids also sometimes find leaks on private property - often in old lead service lines. In those cases, the city alerts homeowners and urges them to take advantage of a city loan program to get the lead out.
A budget request to staff the program is expected in late November.
Matthew Van Dongen is a Hamilton-based reporter covering transportation for The Spectator. Reach him via email: mvandongen@thespec.com