The Vavenby water system has had some challenges during the past few weeks.
The first water leak occurred on Friday, Dec. 12. Ken Nystoruk, a water system operator for the TNRD, was working in the pump house when he noticed that the water level in the reservoir was very low. It had nearly emptied in just four hours.
Nystoruk turned on both pumps but the system continued to lose water so he knew there was a serious problem. He sequentially isolated all the branches of the water main using the main line valves.
With this method the TNRD narrowed down the leak location to the main supply line between the tracks and the pump house.
A water truck was sent to add water to the reservoir and the TNRD planned a way to best provide water to the community during this crisis. By then it was late in the evening and they were already setting up manpower and contractors for the next day.
TNRD workers Ken Nystoruk, Dale Stachoski, Shawn Kratchmer, Darren Robinson, Arden Bolton, local Ti Hewlett, and Quality Contractors all came out Saturday morning to try to find the leak and plan a repair.
A “leak detector” listening device was used. It’s basically a microphone that goes on the ground with an amplifier, and headphones. This device was used every two meters from the tracks to the pump house, listening for the sounds produced by a leak.
Four to five “noisy spots” were identified, signalling possible leak locations. Two suspect locations were excavated. There was a “noisy spot” and a lot of water around the railway crossing right where CN had dug a ditch this summer and that area was a focus of the attention. Digging was started but nothing was discovered.
Ralph Schuchardt discussed historical town leaks with the men. One of the previous leak sites correlated with a noisy spot identified by Arden Bolton. That is where the leak was discovered on the afternoon of Saturday, Dec. 13.
The leak was located on private property and was unrelated to the publicly owned water infrastructure. The suspected cause of the leak was poor insulation that allowed the private line to freeze and break. The water then flowed once the pipe thawed in the recent warm weather.
The TNRD isolated the leak on the property by turning off the curb stop. This break was not caused by any faulty parts of the Vavenby water system. It was a private property issue.
The second problem occurred on Tuesday, Dec. 16. When trying to locate the original leak on Friday, a branch line valve seal failed when it was isolated.
The TNRD knew exactly where the break was located because it started to leak immediately after the valve was exercised. The entire valve was removed from the water main and replaced with a new one.
Before repairs were started on this problem, a phone call went out to all residents to let them know that the TNRD would be replacing the leaky main line water valve between and that some water services might be disrupted. People were asked to prepare themselves for this event.
Now there appears to be a third leak on Dohms Road but none of the water system drawings show a water line in the area. The TNRD is trying to contain the water until the source can be identified.
The TNRD Utilities staff are happy because three original sets of the “as built” engineering drawings for the Vavenby water system that had been lost were found and handed in on Dec. 18.
The TNRD now has accurate records and locations for the water system elements. This new information will undoubtedly make all future repairs faster, cheaper and easier.
