Water System News Flash

As most of you have probably read by now, our aging water system in the Village has been prone to leaks and line breaks causing us to lose thousands of gallons of water a day. Many of the problems we experience today are a result of how the system was designed and installed, the materials used, and other problems that relate to the nature of our geography (cold temperatures, heavy snow pack and melt, roads settling, etc). You will note in the 2008-2009 budget proposal you will be receiving shortly, we have created a budget for re-engineering our water system. This engineering work will allow us to more accurately determine what our alternatives and corresponding costs would be to repair or replace our water system.

In simple terms, our water is supplied through an infiltration system that is sub- surface and captures water from snow melt and sub surface water from the hills around us. This differs from more traditional wells that are now the norm. We are currently in the process of obtaining permits from the state to drill one or more wells to secure our water supply and provide backup to the infiltration system. The well or wells will likely replace the infiltration at some point in the future. As we get later in the summer, there is less and less water available from our current ground sources into our infiltration trench. If we have leaks or unnecessary usage, we run the risk of running out of water for our community before end of summer. This is not only a concern for normal day to day needs, but among other concerns, represents a potential safety issue if there were to be a fire.

Through constant (volunteered) monitoring, it has been determined that our typical daily usage should be in the range of 8000 – 12000 gallons per day. During the winter months (about February), our daily usage spiked and held at almost 36000 gallons per day. With snow on the ground, it is difficult to locate leaks unless a homeowner found one in their home. By way of example, 20,000 gallons of water a day is about 14 gallons per minute……this can be hard to find ,especially if it is under a road covered by 5 feet of snow.

Once the snow melted, volunteer water committee members began the tedious task of trying to locate leaks and line breaks. We fixed the first one on Mountain Home Lane a couple weeks ago and that stopped about 6000 – 8000 gallons of waste. We also are replacing a valve that we think will knock out another 6000 gallons. Repair of 4 identified hydrants might take out another chunk. It appears there is another 10,000 gallons leaking off somewhere. If we can’t find the sources, we will be hiring a leak detection firm that using sounding devices to locate the leaks. Unfortunately, without meters at individual homes and without shutoffs by section of underground, we are limited in what we can do. With these known fixes, we should be able to bring our usage down to a level that will sustain us through summer and assuming no more leaks, we have less of an issue in the winter.

Maintaining this system to provide a safe, clean, reliable supply of drinking water is a daunting task. We have approximately 168 water stubs or connections to homes, and miles of water lines underground that are highly susceptible to failure. The team that has managed the water system in the past has done an excellent job holding it together. The new Water Committee is now challenged with finding alternative solutions going in to the future to meet new and more stringent requirements, and dealing with a system that is prone to problems.


We need your help

To maintain our usage at the lowest possible levels, we need everyone’s help. A simple toilet with a stuck float can send 1 gallon per minute into your drain field (1400 gallons per day). A wet spot you see in the road could be thousands of gallons underground per day. Please keep a watchful eye out for sources of waste. If your cabin has the capability, consider shutting off your household water supply at the house (not at the street) when you are not staying at your cabin. Do not attempt to shut off the water at the street connection as the valves are extremely delicate. If you have toilets that are not shutting off, please repair them or at least shut them off at their valve to avoid waste. If you see water spots in roads or yards that might suggest we have a leak, please contact any board member immediately.

We will keep you posted on our work and progress. We hope to bring the community new water supply options over the next 6 months or so, including drilling a new well….but until we fix the pipes underground and the connections at the lots, we are going to have to keep a very close eye on our daily usage as a leading indicator of problems we can’t see.

Thanks for your continued support.

Your Water Committee
(Howard Ringoen, Scott Walker, Scott Nicholson, Dan Riblett, Shenton Oh, Andy Dulin)
Please reply to water@kachess.com