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Orangeville takes measures against water system losses

July 5, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

About 10 per cent of Orangeville’s treated potable water is lost through leaks.

Ryan Ondusko, manager of infrastructure services at the town’s Department of Public Works, said the municipality has limited water supply capacity to service future developments “beyond what is currently approved or in progress towards approval.”

That’s important to note, given that officials at town hall have previously maintained that housing development isn’t a concern for the water supply. It’s the peak use that’s the worry: A high number of people using water at the same time so that the supply can’t keep up.

Like, say, many residents running lawn sprinklers at the same time.

Ondusko said existing wells have been in service for about 34 years and several wells have since experienced declines in efficiency and supply capacity.

“Unaccounted for water makes up a substantial portion of the town’s total water production volume,” he said.

Unaccounted-for water totalled 19 per cent to 27 per cent of treated water production from 2015 to 2019. The target for that set by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks is just 10 per cent.

Staff have undertaken various initiatives to ensure the organization’s needs of water conservation would allow for sufficient and sustainable water servicing in the town.

“So to note on the unaccounted-for water, the town estimates that 10 per cent of the water that is treated in Orangeville is lost in our system from leakage,” Ondusko said. “The amount of unaccounted-for water is high.

“Staff realize that a combination of both developing new sources, maintaining or rehabilitating existing sources, and changing water use practices in general are all important steps toward long-term sustainability.”

The municipality has already changed its lawn watering bylaw to incorporate measures aimed at conserving water. Exceptions were introduced for lawn watering with sources other than municipal water, where a property has a permit issued, where a property has nurseries, farms, turf or tree farms, and other areas such as parks, playing fields and public gardens.

Lawn watering exceptions were removed on even and odd number days of the month, for even and odd number ending properties, and have been replaced with an exception to water one day a week based on the last numeral of the properties’ municipal address.

Town staff have undertaken both automatic and manual acoustic leak detection programs, a water metre replacement effort, a revised water main flushing and water quality program, and other initiatives toward improving the system.

Six fire hydrants in the town are outfitted with monitoring devices that have a range of about 1,500 feet. Ondusko said there’s overlap in the coverage areas to better identify leak locations.

“So far, the town’s (automatic acoustic leak detection) pilot program has successfully identified and resulted in the repair of one leak to date since the program started in mid-April,” he said. “The first leak identified was wasting approximately 14 cubic metres of water per day or 14,000 litres.”

That’s about 5,110 cubic metres of water lost per year, he said.

“From a financial perspective, if this same amount of water ran through your water metre, it would result in $20,000 in water and wastewater rates billed over one calendar year,” Ondusko said.

The manual acoustic leak detection program has been used by staff to identify two leaks in the water system since May. One was an approximate water loss of 13 cubic metres or 13,000 litres per 24 hours.

Ondusko said a hole was discovered in a copper pipe last week on Montgomery Street that measured as little as one-eighth of an inch. That could have leaked as much as 4,745 cubic metres of water each year.

“The equivalent of $19,000 in water and wastewater rates if it were to pass through your water metre,” he said, and added that those types of leaks grow over time.

Another leak was discovered on Forest Street. It measured about a quarter-inch. With a pressure of 100 pounds per square inch, that hole could have caused the loss of 71 cubic metres or 71,000 litres of water every day.

Ondusko said that 25,915 cubic metres of water lost every year means $104,437 a year in water and wastewater rates.

The total water saved by repairing those three leaks in mid-2024 adds up to about 98 cubic metres a day for 36,000 cubic metres a year for $144,000 in water and wastewater rates saved.

“We still have six known leaks that we still have to fix,” he said.

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