Water shortages are a thing of the past for Haines Borough, according to water and sewer supervisor Dennis Durr.
Last summer, drought conditions and a low snowpack led to shortages and mandatory water restrictions for Haines residents. To prevent another situation like last year’s, the water department is making three major changes, Durr said. The department lowered the Lily Lake water line, developed a water-loss control program, and is currently expanding the Piedad water supply.
This month, for the first time ever, more of the town’s water is coming from Piedad than from Lily Lake. The department plans to add two new spring sources in 2020 to bring the plant up to maximum capacity.
In addition to flattening the transmission line to improve flow from Lily Lake, the water department is working on expanding the spring water source at Piedad water treatment plant, Durr said. Durr said this expansion will save the borough money long term as “water from Piedad is much more cost effective per gallon to produce compared to Lily Lake.”
During last summer’s water restrictions, the borough required leaks estimated at 1,000 gallons an hour at the Eagle’s Nest Trailer Park to be repaired after they shut off service to the park for three days. The water department also worked to locate and repair leaks at other locations. Durr said he estimates they repaired roughly 12 leaks, mostly located on individual lines running to customers’ houses.
While the water department is always looking for leaks, Durr said, they have developed a water-loss control program to be more proactive. “This program involves water system auditing, public education, hiring a leak detection specialist… and engineering a hydraulic modeling of our current water system to help determine (where) leaks (are likely to form).”
“We are currently saving approximately 2 million gallons per month due to (leak repairs),” Durr said. While historical averages for October through April put Haines water consumption at 7 to 9 million gallons per month, “currently we are operating at 5 to 6 million gallons per month,” he said.
All municipal water systems have leaks, Durr said. “The EPA estimates the average loss for all municipal systems at 16% to 25%. Water systems in places like Haines that deal with freezing temperatures, will have more leaks than southern climates because of the freezing issues we deal with.” Freezing causes breaks in the line. Snow helps mitigate the issue by insulating the ground, but last year, Haines didn’t have a snowpack, Durr said.
Low snow levels last winter also meant low water levels for the town’s water supplies, Lily Lake and the Piedad spring, Durr said. Drought conditions during the summer led to increased water demand and historic low levels at Lily Lake. The lake’s water level dropped roughly 5 feet.
This shouldn’t have been a problem, except that “the transmission line installed by Southeast Road Builders in 2010 was not installed according to engineered plans,” Durr said. Rather than blasting through bedrock to create a flat transmission line, the construction company ran the line over the subterranean rock formation. “This high spot in the water line prevented us from sending water to the treatment plant,” Durr said. Last fall, Southeast Roadbuilders was re-hired to lower the water line to match the original design.
It is too soon to calculate the cost savings for residents and the borough, Durr said. “Cost saving for water has many factors, but we are currently charging $4.50 per 1000 gallons of water sold in bulk. We can assume the savings may be in the thousands.”