A recently uncovered eroded water pipe connection has caused the District of Squamish to waste as much as 180 million litres of water, according to a staff report presented at District of Squamish council on Tuesday (Oct.19).
District of Squamish manager of engineering Brian Barnett reported the discovery of the leak's culprit, a badly damaged pipe connection, while providing an update on Government Road construction meant to upgrade the underground infrastructure.
"Big sections of the pipe were eroded and the pipe has kind of worn away," said Barnett as he passed around the guilty water connection.
"The reason I'm showing this to you is that I estimate this has leaked six million litres of water a year and has probably leaked for two or three decades - that's a tremendous amount of water loss."
He also passed around a photo of a culvert construction workers removed that was split apart, "making the drainage system there virtually useless," he said.
Mayor Greg Gardner called the water loss "disturbing" and said these situations exemplified the need for water leak detection work currently in progress.
Barnett provided an update on the construction, stating crews have replaced sewer pipes and water pipes, and have built bike lanes between Brackendale and the downtown.
They've also made drainage improvements and restructured the road with new gravel.
Paving will be taking place over the next few weeks, and Barnettt said the road should be open to traffic Tuesday (Oct. 26).
He praised the significant boost the project brought to the economy - employing local construction companies, engineering firms, surveyors and contractors getting work locally - but also acknowledged the number of local businesses in the area who "suffered quite significantly from this project."
Barnett encouraged the community to take advantage of the newly opened road and promotions the being offered by the affected businesses, leading Terrill Patterson to ask whether Greg Gardner GM will be offering two for one vehicles.
The engineering manager also took the opportunity to advise the public a new water pipe flushing program may cause turbidity in residents' water. The district will try to restrict flushing to business hours for residential homes and night time hours for businesses.
"If the water is discoloured, just run it for a few minutes and it should clear up," said Barnett.
A direct mail-out advising residents will be distributed before the program begins.
