By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
The Grayson Utilities Commission wrestled with supply issues while doing repairs last week that affected Kentucky Christian University. Utilities Commission Director Gerald Haney said there were three non-functioning water valves involved, and that one of the challenges with the repair concerned securing the proper couplings to join the new pipe to existing pipe.
This issue occurs when working with water systems that have been installed, in some cases, decades prior because the sizing of newer pipe might have changed in the intervening years. There is even the possibility of shrinkage occurring in older pipes. In most cases this shrinkage only involves a fraction of a decimal point, but that is still a major concern on a line that must carry and hold pressure. Haney said that fortunately they were able to find the correct couplings from a West Virginia company before they cut the lines to change the valves.
The goal, according to Haney, was to complete the repairs before KCU students returned to campus, and the utilities commission was able to meet that goal.
“We had three valves that were no longer operational on College Street,” Haney explained of the project. “And we had to turn off a big area all the way down Hord Street, which also affected the Justice Center. The valves had stopped working a long time ago and needed to be changed. And thankfully we were able to accomplish that without major disruption.”
The valves in question were 10-inch gate valves, Haney said, and when working allow segments of the water system to be opened up or shut off. The water line that runs down Hord Street runs all the way to College Street, he explained, and ‘t’s’ into the line with valves at each part of the ‘t.’ By operating the valves, it allows workers to repair one section of line without affecting the others. Ideally, with operational valves, only customers on the affected line would experience an outage.
Haney said the replacement of the valves will be of huge benefit to the city. For example, if there is ever a leak on Hord Street, College Street is less likely to be affected because of the valves installed on the line. The valves, Haney said, allow for more effective use of the grid system in the city. When functioning properly, he explained, outages can be localized, and the city can often avoid the shutdown of multiple city blocks.
The grid is definitely beneficial, Haney said, but can also come with its own challenges, especially when it comes to determining the exact location of leaks. And in the case of a grid where multiple lines of different types are present, other difficulties can present themselves. For instance, sewage lines, Haney said, are installed over gravel. If there is a leak in a nearby water line that gravel functions as a sort of French drain, to leach away the excess water. When this happens, it can be difficult to determine the leak location because the excess water does not rise to the surface and can’t be spotted by visual examination.
Fortunately, the city is in the process of replacing many of the 250 miles of water line with new pipes (and gate valves) that are designed to better monitor flow. Technicians can monitor the lines and if there is an excessive flow through a certain area they can respond accordingly.
“We could have had a leak that followed the sewer lines or went into the storm drains, and people might have lost pressure,” Haney said. “But we were still losing water between the main and the meter.”
The new monitoring system will help prevent that by narrowing the search window for any leaks causing that sort of loss. Haney said that while it would be nice to never have to fix leaks, and for customers to never have to deal with water outages, that just isn’t a practical expectation. But with the improvements Grayson Utilities is doing to the city water system it will be easier to eliminate many future issues and respond more quickly to those issues that do occur.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
