Insertion Valve For Live Water Main Avoids Customer Interruption

The aged nature of water pipe has received a lot of coverage in the water industry press over the past few years. But little has been said about the control points throughout the distribution system, often rusted in place and no longer operating. As Chris Vazzana, President of Hydra Stop, explains in this Water Online interview, operators end up shutting down large sections of cities when a main breaks because the immediate valves are no longer functioning.

“We were in a large municipality two weeks ago and they were telling us about their main break on an 8-inch water main,” explained Vazzana. “Normally they would shut down the two valves on either end of the street to isolate the break that would have affected 20 houses. Well, the valves did not operate in their system. They had to shut down 78 valves that affected between 8,000 and 10,000 customers.”

Hydra Stop manufactures a permanent valve that can be inserted into a live water main, avoiding interruptions to communities’ water source. To hear more about Hydra Stop’s solution and the necessity of avoiding customer frustration in the era of cellphones and social media, listen here: