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Water supply in two villages back to normal
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Posted on Nov 20 2005
Water supply in San Antonio and Upper Koblerville would have returned to normal pressure and to 24-hour service by noon yesterday, the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation said yesterday.
Residents of these two areas experienced water outage or low water pressure on Friday and Saturday, as the CNMI Water Task Force and CUC personnel tried to fix pipeline leaks detected in the area.
CUC management specialist Pamela A. Mathis said the contractors who fixed the main pipeline finished at midnight Sunday morning.
ÅgCUC’s water division manager was on-site and immediately worked to test the lines, then start pumping water through those huge pipes in the early morning hours,Åh Mathis said. ÅgBecause these pipes are so big, the water is not rushing or gushing to the villages—water is filling up the pipeline slowly. The water will return to normal pressure and to 24-hour service by noon.Åh
The Water Task Force had detected broken water valves under paved roads where the main water lines split into lateral lines and down streets in both villages.
To fix the problem, a contractor was hired to cut through the roads, dig up the broken pipelines and valves and install new water distribution systems. They mapped the new systems into computers, so finding pipelines and operational valves will be automated in the future.
According to Mathis, the CUC Leak Detection Team and the Water Task Force discovered the leak by adding water to pressurize or fill pipes to full capacity.
ÅgIf equal gallons are not counted at metered lots, or through daily reservoir measurements, this points to a loss of water ‘somewhere’ in the system. To detect the precise point, the man of the Leak Detection Team use their trained ears to find the source of problems,Åh she had explained.
Aside from leaks in the distribution lines, CUC and WTF also found that very old valves, used to open pipeline operations or close water distribution, do not work.
ÅgThe valves are either closed but not all the way, or the valves are operating open but not nearly enough. Both malfunctions result in a great loss of water and service not being maximized,Åh Mathis said. (Agnes E. Donato)
