Not All Leaks Are Created Equal: Prioritizing Water Main Breaks Is A Science

When customers report a water main break, and the utility fails to respond, they often think they are being ignored.

But the truth is, many utilities are forced to prioritize which leaks are most urgent so that they can address the most pressing ones first, using their limited resources more efficiently.

The public is not always aware that when water is seen gushing into the street for days, it is not a sign of complacency among water workers. Officials are busy behind the scenes.

WKYC investigated practices at Cleveland Water. "Cleveland Water says it must fix more than 2,400 line breaks a year, including more than 1,300 water main breaks along 4,800 miles of main in its district," the report said. 

WKYC explained that utilities try to evaluate urgency in order to rank the priority of leaks. "Some water issues are more pressing than others for the department. The determination starts with an investigator responding to the scene 24 hours a day, right after a call comes in. For that, they rely on ratepayers, the report said.  

Investigators report their findings, and leaks are ranked based on "the amount of water being spilt, service interruptions and street closures.”

In some cities, getting a water main break fixed can take weeks.

"If it's a standard leak, what will happen is we will assess that. We'll put up a sign indicating we're aware of the leak and give basically a 14-day window," said George Zonders with the Department of Public Utilities, in an NBC4i report.

The American Water Works Association provides utilities with technical papers on how to prioritize water main breaks.

"Prioritizing pipe improvements can be done by conducting desk-top evaluation or using specialized software packages. The end result for either method is a scoring system that allows the utility to optimize capital improvement funds and properly schedule pipe rehabilitation to address the most critical needs first," one technical paper said.

Priorities will vary from utility to utility, the paper said.

"The importance of each factor is subjective and varies among utilities. Input to the analysis may include: main break history, pipe age, pipe material, valve status, soil pH, pressure, flow velocity, water age, and proximity to critical facilities, such as hospitals," the paper said. "A scoring and weighing system is assigned for each input, and each pipe is then assigned a weighted sum. The higher the score, the more critical the pipe is to the system and the higher the priority for rehabilitation."

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