The leak in the town’s municipal water system that has bedeviled the operator and town officials since December, has definitively been found in front of the Waitsfield Wine Shoppe in Waitsfield Village.
That discovery came after water system operators with Simon Operating Services worked with the Vermont Rural Water Association late last month using acoustic leak correlators and live listening equipment.
The location of the leak, first discovered December 11, has been systematically narrowed from a townwide concern to a roughly 500-foot stretch of 12-inch water main along Route 100, directly across from the Waitsfield Fire Station. The last round of listening work yielded the Waitsfield Wine Shoppe location. (Turning water into wine is not currently a permitted use at that location.)
The leak has added between 60,000 and 74,000 gallons per day above the town’s typical daily use of about 40,000 gallons. The system, which normally uses about 11% of its permitted capacity, is now operating at roughly 32% because of the leak. The town is permitted for 348,000 gallons a day so the town is effectively losing about 20% of its permitted capacity. The system’s storage tank holds 400,000 gallons and water commissioner Robin Morris likened the leak to losing four or five full tanks of water per month.
The increased demand has caused the pump to run nearly nonstop – about three times longer than usual, according to Morris. Select board chair Brian Shupe said the pump was designed to handle much higher volumes than the town typically uses.
Members of the select board, system operator and water commission are meeting as The Valley Reporter goes to press on March 11 to determine next steps. During previous discussions, town officials said they were likely to wait until spring to address the leak to avoid digging into and through the frost line.
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