Leaks
Half of Van Anda’s treated water is wasted, lost to undetected leakage – about $30,000 a year
All municipalities have aging water infrastructures that leak to one degree or another.
We have a plan to fix ours.
- Our water operators have successfully found and repaired several major water leaks through acoustic listening tests, and continue to test and repair.
- We are still experiencing substantial water losses in our water system. We have calculated that nearly half of the daily treated water volume is lost to leaks in the water system.
- This lost treated water is expensive in that it accounts for about 20% of our current annual water budget. This is money that comes directly from you, the ratepayer.
Why are there still so many leaks?
Given that Van Anda is mostly rock, there often little or no evidence of water leaks because the water tends to run straight down between the rocks rather than declaring itself by bubbling up to the surface.
While we will diligently continue to discover additional mainline leaks through night time listening tests, the rest of the water losses come from domestic or household losses. Household water loss is not inconsequential in that all of the “little leaks” add up to a huge volume of lost water.
But leaks never used to be a problem…
Two things changed that:
- the cost of water treatment
- the new water tank (needed for fire protection) has increased pressure in the lines, which in turn has increased the amount of leakage.
What can I do to help?
The culprits here range from leaking toilets and taps to faulty irrigation systems and leaking household service lines that connect to our mainlines – multiply your run-on toilet or leaky tap by 200 to get a sense of how quickly that adds up. You can do your part to conserve our valuable water by:
- repairing that toilet that runs 24/7
- fixing that leaky fixture or irrigation system
- don’t rely on your hose nozzle to stop water from leaking after you’re finished with it. Shut the tap off instead.
A leaky toilet can easily waste 300 gallons per day, or 73,000 gallons per year. If 50 houses have leaking toilets, that’s 3,650,000 gallons per year.
| Leak Calculator | |||||
| Leak Diameter @ 100 PSI line pressure | Gallons Per Minute | Gallons Per Day | Gallons Per Year | Annual Cost at $0.0063 per gallon | |
| 1/16″ hole | 0.82 | 1,181 | 430,992 | $ 2,715 | |
| 1/8″ hole | 3.26 | 4,694 | 1,713,456 | $ 10,795 | |
| 3/16″ hole | 7.34 | 10,570 | 3,857,904 | $ 24,305 | |
| 1/4″ hole | 13.05 | 18,792 | 6,859,080 | $ 43,212 | |
| Other leaks | |||||
| Dripping faucet | 0.01 | 15 | 5,466 | $ 34 | |
| Leaking toilet | 0.50 | 720 | 262,800 | $ 1,656 | |
| 1/2″ x 50 ft hose: | |||||
| – Unattended water hose 1 night | 20 | 14,400 | 14,400 | $ 91 | |
| – Hose running 24/7 | 20 | 28,800 | 10,512,000 | $ 66,226 | |
| Broken water service line | 33 | 47,520 | 17,344,800 | $ 109,272 | |
| Stuck ice maker | 2 | 2,880 | 1,051,200 | $ 6,622 | |
| Stuck check valve in washing machine @ 30 mins per day | 8 | 240 | 87,600 | $ 551 | |
What else is VAID doing to solve the problem?
VAID’s water operators are conducting leak down tests on every household water connection to our main lines. This is done by turning off a house’s water at the street after attaching a pressure meter to an outside tap and watching for a drop in the pressure reading. If the pressure drops, this means is a leak which will have to be repaired.
You can make a difference in helping to prevent loss of treated water.
If you suspect that you have a leak, call the VAID office at 604-486-7035 or email contact@vananda-id.ca to schedule a test.
Controlling water leaks is like fire prevention – it’s everybody’s business.
Read about Leak Detection and Water Leaks on Private Property