Our Own Gusher Right Here In Arlington

Arlington County, VA, where I live, is making improvements to the water infrastructure. As I understand it, they are cleaning and lining the water supply lines systematically across the county. I applaud the county for being proactive in preserving and extending the life of this vital infrastructure.

As the workers laid temporary water pipe in the streets in my neighborhood, I noted that there were several locations where they allowed the water to gush out, as shown in this video.

The water was gushing out into a pail that had holes cut in it, so that it would then flow away in the gutter. You can see my hand holding a watering can and filling it up with the flow. It took about 13 seconds to fill it to the 2-gallon mark. I calculate that flow to be a little more than 9 gallons per minute, 550 gallons per hour, 13,000 gallons per day. This was not, I should note, the only location where this was happening, although the flow at other locations I noticed was not quite as much.

The part of this that bothered me was not that the workers needed to set these temporary pipes as part of the maintenance program. It was that this was put in place several days before Memorial Day weekend, and the water kept gushing 24/7 before, after and through the entire 3-day weekend. I believe it was at least 10 days total that this gusher was in place on my street. Roughly 130,000 gallons from just this one spot. Water rates in Arlington are $11.74 per 1000 gallons, so the opportunity value of that water was about $1,500.

Another way to evaluate is that Arlington pays Washington Aqueduct $795 per million gallons. From that perspective, the 130,000 wasted gallons only cost the county $150. Makes one wonder about the difference.

Given that these crews have been working for many months, I would not be surprised if several million gallons of water has literally been washed away. The County, in fact (and ironically), maintains a water conservation tips page.

There must be a better way to do this, particular on weekends and holidays. Obviously the contractors have no incentives to conserve the water. The county, though, does, since it has to pay for it. Also, it makes residents like me wonder how the county is working to conserve our resources and tax dollars when this simple, easy to see, wasteful practice is occurring right in front of our houses.

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Steve Offutt is an Arlington resident

Comments

[Steve]

I wrote: "I believe it was at least 10 days total that this gusher was in place on my street."

You wrote: "This flushing is typically 1 to 2 hours."

Your reply does not clarify why the water was gushing over the entirety of the Memorial Day weekend.

Perhaps I was not clear, but for those 10 days or so the water was running continuously--not just for a couple of hours for flushing and testing. So of those 240 or so hours, at least 230 of them were pure waste.

"If flushing is observed for longer periods of time than noted above. . ." - consider this reply my notification that I observed flushing for considerably longer than the periods of time noted above. Since it was several weeks ago, I don't see much point in calling the Water Control Center.

I never saw anyone replace the dechlorination tablets, so I would be surprised if it were still working after the first 100,000 gallons had flowed through the bucket.

These workers have been in our neighborhood for several weeks, and I like them--very pleasant men. I don't believe I have seen a single county worker checking up on the work or work practices or looking for really simple ways to reduce water waste as shown in the video above.

[Fresh AIRE]

The water flow noted was an example of pipe cleaning and lining as described. It is important to outline, in brief, how this process works and why the water sometimes flows for an extended period of time. This year, water pipe cleaning and lining is being conducted in the Madison Manor and Dominion Hills area of Arlington County. To ensure the safety of our water supply, the following steps were completed on several blocks in the neighborhood independently:

1) A temporary bypass water pipe was installed: While an existing water main is cleaned and cement lined, a temporary bypass pipe must go into service on the street. Water service is provided via this temporary pipe with potable water from a fire hydrant connection.

2) The temporary bypass water pipe was cleaned: Before people can use water from the temporary pipe, it must be disinfected and flushed. The water must pass tests for 2 consecutive days, and standard procedures include flushing the main thoroughly before each test. This flushing is typically 1 to 2 hours.

3) Work on the permanent water pipe was conducted: Once the temporary bypass pipe is ready for service and the individual homes are transferred to the temporary bypass pipe, work on the existing pipe can begin.

4) The permanent water pipe was put back into service: Once existing pipe work is complete and before it can be put back into service, the new relined water main has to be flushed, disinfected, flushed again and tested twice before going back in service and the homes transferred back to the water main.

The video was likely taken during one of the several above noted flushing periods, again, to ensure the safety of our water supply and to comply with federal safety water regulations. The bucket under the pipe contains cakes of a dechlorinating agent to reduce the impact to nearby streams of flushing potable water.

If flushing is observed for longer periods of time than noted above, please call the Arlington County Water Control Center 703-228-6555.

Regarding the difference in water rates to Citizens and water costs to the County, that difference in cost is attributable to:

• Our operations and capital costs here in Arlington, including our personnel, equipment and supplies operating and maintaining the system, and the capital costs to build, maintain and rehabilitate the system’s water storage tanks, pumping stations, pipes and valves. This includes projects such as the one witnessed to clean and re-line pipes and replace valves on aging infrastructure.

• Our operations and capital expenses related to our sanitary sewer collection system and the Water Pollution Control Plant that treats the County’s sewage.