Saturday, January 31, 2004
By Jennifer Latson, jlatson@chronline.com , The Chronicle
Tenino's water system lost 19 million gallons of water last year, bringing the town's total water use to within a million gallons of the limit imposed by the state Department of Ecology.
The missing water — the same amount that would be lost by flushing a toilet every 10 seconds around the clock for a year — was not discovered until the end of the year, when city officials compiled the annual water use report.
Public Works Director Dave Dafoe announced the finding at Tuesday's city council meeting.
Of the 87.2 million gallons pumped out of Tenino's two wells from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, only about 66 million gallons were accounted for.
Dafoe traced some of the water, about 3 million gallons, to a city ball field that was watered but not metered, and to routine pipe flushing and tank cleaning.
Where the other 19 million went is a mystery, Dafoe said.
A leak detector from the Evergreen Rural Water Association will visit the city this week and use a listening device to help find the problem.
"If it was one leak, it'd probably be fairly noisy, but I'm thinking it'll probably be a series of smaller leaks. It can turn out to be a lengthy process if you can't find it right away," Dafoe said.
Tenino is closer than it has ever been to exceeding its allotted water rights: it is licensed to pump 88 million gallons a year.
City councilors expressed concerns at Tuesday's meeting that going over the water limit would result in punishment by the Department of Ecology, which determines water rights.
"They're going to put a moratorium on any building we can do," Councilor Frank Anderson speculated.
Councilors said they might be forced to ask residents to conserve water in the future if the leak cannot be found.
But DOE spokesperson Sandy Howard said the agency would not come down on the town as long as it is actively trying to fix the problem.
"As long as they are aware and checking into it, we're not going to go after them," Howard said. "We'd like to help them and work with them. This would not be an enforcement priority." Tenino's water system was installed in the 1950s; about two-thirds of it was upgraded in the 1970s. On an average year, its pipes carry between 65 and 75 million gallons of water from the wells to the town's 650 water customers.
A water main broke in 1996, and the water use spiked to 84.5 million gallons — the second highest it's ever been.
"That's what makes me think we have another leak we can't find," Dafoe said. "Probably one of the places I'm going to look is where we had that leak in '96." The lost water represents about 21 percent of the total amount pumped. A loss of up to 5 percent is considered normal for a water system, Dafoe said.
Tenino's leak is both wasteful and expensive, he said, besides pushing the town so close to its water use limit.
"We just want to get it fixed so we get it back down from that ceiling," Dafoe said. "And 20 million gallons does cost money, because it all gets chlorinated and treated and pumped."
Jennifer Latson covers rural Lewis County, South Thurston County and East Grays Harbor County for The Chronicle. She may be reached at 807-8245, or by e-mail at jlatson@chronline.com.
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