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Operation and Maintenance of Water Distribution Systems* THE GENERAL SCOPE of the term water distribution system is very broad and would normally in clude distribution mains, valves, hy drants, service connections, meters, booster pumping stations, storage fa cilities. maintenance shops, etc. This article will cover the major items un der this classification and particularly in respect to the more important con siderations rather than a complete coverage. by WALLACE T. MILLER Mr. Miller is Research Engineer of the Cast Iran Pipe Research Association in Chicago and a former water works superintendent. In this arti cle, he presents a summary of modern tested practices. MAINS The specific locations of water mains are worthy of consideration in the early stages of planning. Many communities originally attempted to install water mains as near to the cen ter of a street as possible, particularly in municipally owned utilities, and this no doubt developed from the thought of equalizing the cost of in stalling water service connections to property owners on each side of the street. As a result of a great prepon derance of paved streets, it is very * An article based on illustrated talks on the subject given at water works short schools in South Dakota, North Carolina and Wisconsin. apparent that an effort should be made to keep water mains outside the limits of paved areas wherever possi ble. This general rule applies whether streets are already paved or are lo cated within new subdivisions where paving will eventually be installed. The cost of removing and replacing of pavement can be a very considera ble part of water main installation or maintenance cost and should be avoid ed wherever possible. Selecting the Location, Size, and Joints The selected location for the water main should prevent close proximity to any existing or proposed sanitary sewer or storm sewer. Many State Health Departments desire at least 10 ft horizontal spacing. Wherever it is deemed necessary to install water mains in the same trench with a sew er main, the water pipe should be laid on an undisturbed earth shelf on one side of the sewer trench and at such an elevation that the bottom of the water main is at least 18 inches above the top of the sewer main. In many cases, it can be determined that a two-main system can be in stalled on a street already paved at a cost which is no greater than the installation of a single main within the limits of the paving. In this case, a main would be located on each side of the existing street, one being suffi ciently large to provide adequate flow Water & Sewage Works, February, 1957 ENGINEERED EXPANSION PROGRAM BENEFITS ANNEXED AREAS 67 duced fire insurance rates that are During the last five years the At now in force throughout the areas lanta \\ ater Works has spent ap that were annexed. Fig. 4 shows the proximately $1,000,000 per year to National Board of Fire Underwriter's improve the water service, which is insurance classifications by areas be the principle reasoli for the insurance fore annexation and at the present rate reduction. Jhe improvements time, after improvements; also the re- aturte. complete UaInIUd,'/tthliue expenditureW wI* liilll ductionAfrUnsurance premiums as a .. the citizen result of th\classification being changed to Cla^'3. The reductions shown are for a brick veneered'dwell ing, which is the predominate type of home construction in\A'tlanta. The saving in insurance premiums on conk- annexed areas (willrgceive a saving, from now on of more than $1,000,000 per year on their insurance premiums. This s.avmg'aTone. which isla result of -flTiproved water service, has made an mercial and industrial buihlings"was nexation a good investment for them. considerably more than-on dwellings. yIt is impossible to determine exactly Acknowledgments / the amount of money that is bbing saved each year on insurance preiiff^ urns as a result of these rate reduc tions in the annexed areas; however, the best conservative estimate is that the saving is over $1,000,000 per year for the citizen taxpayers. The author wishes to express grate ful appreciation to \Y\ D. Hudson, ' t Chief Engineer of The Pi- S Associates. who has been derd resident engineer on all elopment project. Also to the following personnel of the Atlanta Water Works: Rov-Ruggles, Chief Engineer of Construction; C. W. Cline, Assistant Chief Engineer of Construction: C. X. Davis, Superin tendent of Maintenance and Distri bution ; JrHoward Bullard, Assistant * 1r < 4 ^ have given tirelessly of time and effort to insure the success of this program. Also to the National Board of Fire Underwriters and the Southeastern Board of Fire Underwriters for their cooperation and council. The author also wishes to express appreciation for the interest mani fested in this important program by Mayor William B. Hartsfield of At lanta; Alderman James E. Jackson, Chairman of the Water Committee; and the Board of Alderman of the City of Atlanta. Ben Gotaas Moves To North western Univ. As Dean of Engineering Beginning with the second semester of the school year. Northwestern Technological Institute of Northwest ern University will have a new Dean. He is Harold B. (Ben) Gotaas, who for the past ten years has been Prof essor of Sanitary Engineering at the University of California. / ', a / department on area planning to round out tlih University's approach t<A~the--genemr--problern--ofAnubl ic works. \ Dean Gotaas' professional career encompases teachingXat three Uni versities. and service with the Army during World War II.NA graduate of South Dakota he holdsNa Masters degree in Structural Engineering from Iowa State Univ., a Masters de gree and an ScD. in Sanitary\En- gineering from Harvard. His first professional assignment was at Sou Dakota University before he went to1 Harvard for graduate study; his sec ond teaching assignment was at the University of North Carolina where he became Professor of Sanitary En gineering. Prof. Gifft of Cornell Died Suddenly Prof. H. M. Gifft, Prof, of Civil Engineering and Dean-elect of the University Faculty of Cornell Uni versity died unexpectedly at his home last December 20. He had been Head of the Sanitary Engineering Depart ment in the School of Civil Engineer- In 1942. Dean Gotaas entered the Army and wis assigned as CChhieief.f/pz Engineer of tne Institute of I.pt.dr. American Affairs at AVashfngton, ing for theXpast ten years. His ap D. C. He later... becapIe-'DSirector of pointment a\ Dean of Faculty had the Health and Sanitary Engineering just been confirmed by the Board of Division and in /1945 was named /President of theAnstitute. Following Inasmuch as Prof. Gotaas has -lotjg' the war he became Professor of Sani- Trustees two daYs before his untimely death. \ Prof. Gifft was\ graduate of Iowa bee' n id' entif'ied' with` researc'h aj/fhe University of California, Ae will strengthen the research facilities, and activities at Northwestern. Until such time as- present ^reSearch projects which he had "under his direction at California are completed, he will tary Engineering at the University of California in Berkeley. For five years he sensed as chairman of the Dept, of Civij/Engineering and he was also Director of the Univ. of Calif. Sani tary Engineering Laboratory. State College in 1932. He received his graduate and professional degrees and was appointed to the Faculty of Cor nell University.- In 1946 he became head of the Sanitary Engineering De partment. Prof. Gifft was well known continue to participate in their direc throughout the profession as a teach tion. er, consultant and author. A number Having spent most of his profes Still a Miracle to Most of his articles have appeared in Wafer sional career in the field of sanitary Even with all of our scientific & Sewage Works. He was a member engineering. Dean Gotaas may.also be expected to expand the civil en gineering field including water supplv, sewage and waste disposal and air pollution. He also spoke of adding prowess and scientific understanding, this World of ours is still a Miracle to most of us--to those of us who be lieve that it takes more than science to explain it. of the consulting firm of Bogema. Gifft and Jenkins in. Ithaca and among his consulting assignments were several summers spent in the Panama Canal Zone. Water & Sewage Works, February, 1957 OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OP WATER SYSTEM) n l t for fire protection and other large flow requirements. The other, fur nishing domestic service only, would be a main no smaller than 2-in. in diameter and connecting to larger size mains at each end of the block. The avoidance of pavement cutting and other work within paved areas, except at street intersections, will fre quently provide sufficient funds to cover the cost of the second small main. Future maintenance costs may be considerably reduced. (See Fig. 1) The matter of adequate sizing ot mains is of prime importance prior to original installation and due con sideration of future needs will avoid many maintenance problems at a later time. A minimum size of 6 inch di ameter should be provided for any mains serving fire hydrants; long lines of this size, however, are likely to provide inadequate service. Any mains less than 6 inch diameter should be considered water service lines. Sizing of mains is a matter which is worthy of an extensive engi neering study by a qualified engineer ing staff and should not be ap proached on a casual basis. Selection of the type of joint most suitable and desirable for particular installation should also receive due consideration. Not many years ago most cast iron installations involved bell and spigot joints utilizing lead, sulphur compound or neat cement for joint materials. For some years, the use of mechan ical joint pipe has been gaining in popularity and now represents the joint which is most frequently used on new construction. This joint is very simple to install, has definite ad vantages over the bell and spigot joint and usually represents no increased cost. The mechanical joint is bottle tight, provides greater flexibility, re duces labor costs, eliminates separate jointing materials and can be readily assembled in a wet trench. The most recent development in cast iron pipe is the Roll-on joint in volving a compressed rubber gasket in a bell and spigot type of joint and in general this is the joint with the lowest cost installed. Flange joints are generally used for pumping station piping and other above ground in stallations. A ball and socket joint, usually called a submarine joint, is most appropriate for crossing rivers or other bodies of water. Leak Repair One of the most important main tenance operations in connection with water distribution systems involves repair of leaks. A very large percent age of leak repair work in the distri bution systems, probably at least 90 per cent in most systems, is repre sented in service connection leaks. Most of the older service connections used lead, wrought iron or galvanized iron pipe and these are more suscepti ble to failure than most other parts of the system. It is generally conceded that the replacement of an old service connec tion in its entirety through use of copper tubing or other satisfactory material, is much more economical than repairing an old service connec tion of unsatisfactory material. Where it is deemed advisable to repair an old service connection, several types of mechanical couplings are available for convenient repair. Most leaks which do occur on mains are joint leaks. If sulphur com pound has been used, the joint mate rial may be cut out or burned out and the joint repoured. Lead joints can be recalked or clamps may be in stalled to provide a more permanent repair. It is somewhat common prac tice, where bell and spigot joints are used, to install joint clamps during the original installation on mains which may be located under railroads, superhighways or other vulnerable spots. For the relatively small number of breaks which occur in water distri bution system mains, a great variety of mechanical clamps or sleeves are available for permanent repair. Prior to World War II it was difficult to get water works operators to think in terms of mechanical clamps as be ing anything other than a temporary repair and it was not uncommon for them to be used on a temporary basis for a quick repair and later removed. Operators have now been convinced that a mechanical repair clamp is a completely permanent repair item and mechanical fittings and pipe are com mon on new installations. Mobile Radio for Leak Repair Operations One of the most important tools in the repair of leakage on water dis tribution systems is to provide rapid and complete communications. All large water utilities, and many small utilities, have already provided corn- munications through short wave ra dios or mobile telephone service. In variably it is found that this type of service will pay for itself within a very short period of time through re duction of labor costs during periods of emergency. It also provides a con siderable reduction in the time of dis ruption of service, which considerably improves public relations. Main Flushing One of the frequent sources of diffi culty in many distribution systems is the existence of red water and the need for flushing at least a portion of the distribution system. Many sys tems find it desirable to provide at least a routine seasonal flushing. A complete flushing of an entire system should always provide for reversing the normal direction of flow and an increase in velocity which can usually be accomplished through closing cer tain valves on the system. Treatment Water & Sewage Works, February, 1957 OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF WATER SYSTEMS of water can be very effective in avoiding the creation of red water problems and cement lining of cast iron mainswill prevent the develop ment of red water in a piping sys tem. Disinfecting Mains One item of extreme importance in operating procedures which is not al ways undertaken is the need for dis infecting new mains before placing these mains in service. Chlorine should be applied at the rate of not less than 50 ppm and should have at least a 24-hr contact period. Holding of such a main out of service after complete flushing, until bacteriological analysis can be com pleted. is often inconvenient but should always be provided. Invaria bly. there seems to be some customer waiting immediate service and fre quently this time element is short ened in order to convenience the cus tomer. It is not desirable that the time element be shortened, the bacterio logical analysis should be undertaken and state health department regula tions should be literally followed in each state. The AWWA has pub lished a standard procedure for disin fection of water mains and this is available in reprint form. Occasionally it is desirable to use chlorine in relatively concentrated dosage to eliminate the formation of slime growths in mains. This pro cedure can be very effective and usu ally requires a high velocity flushing following the disinfection. Maintaining Capacity The maintaining of adequate ca pacity may develop as a problem in many water systems and this situa tion has been extremely prevalent in too many systems during the past few years of heavy demand and extensive droughts. Many articles have been published on the procedures neces sary for completely analyzing distri bution system capacities. A project of this nature invariably requires en gineering talent for a complete hy draulic survey and it is not desirable to delay such needs until inadequate service is experienced. An effort should be made to anticipate increased demands on the system and to pro ride reinforcements in time to meet such needs. Non-revenue Water losses of this nature, simple leak surveys may be undertaken by any water de partment regardless of size. For ex ample. there is a case on record of a municipal water district of some 500 customers where only one gallon of water was recorded on customer meters for each four gallons of water purchased through the master meter. This is an absurd as well as expensive situation and the exertion of nothing more than simple effort would result in saving a very large part of the unaccounted-for water. More than 20 years ago the writer became associated with a municipal water utility which produced one mil lion gallons per day and accounted for only 67 per cent of the water pro duced. Over a four year period a sim ple leak survey was diligently under taken with the result that production of water remained at one million gal lons per day, during a period of mod est growth, and 87 per cent of all wa ter produced was recorded on cus tomer meters. The procedure followed to increase accounted-for water by 20 per cent was very simple. An extensive meter maintenance program was under taken. Repaired meters were required to meet a rigid test. Many very old meters were replaced with new me ters. A simple leak survey was under taken which involved listening for leaks on every customers service, at the meter location and at the curb shut off. Listening devices were also used on every hydrant and every valve in the entire distribution sys tem. During the course of the survey every curb shut off was operated and those failing to operate were prompt ly repaired or replaced. The entire increase in accounted-for water was the result of repairing leaks located in the distribution system and ob taining accurate registration of me ters. Of great importance in the opera Safety tion of any water distribution system.; In conducting operation and main is the need to minimize losses through tenance work as well as in new con unaccounted-for or non-revenue wa struction, definite effort should be ter. Probably the best safeguard made to prosecute the work under the which can be undertaken to provide best standards of safety practices a high percentage of accounted-for which are known. This is a responsi water could generally be referred to bility of the manager of any water as development of a good mainte utility and a safety program should nance program. Water produced can be in existence in every utility re become non-revenue water through gardless of size. The AWWA has inaccuracy of meter registration, leak recently published a manual on safety age in the system, stolen water and practices related to the water works from other causes. industry. Frequently this unaccounted-for water is extensive enough to warrant VALVES expending money for professional One of our first concerns in respect leak surveys which would cover all to valves in a water distribution sys phases of the system. In the absence tem relates to the location and extent of undertaking a professional survey of valve installations. Water & Sewage Works, February, 1957 OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF WATER SYSTEMS 71 Number of Valves The ideal installation might pro vide for four valves to be located at every water main intersection and, if blocks are unusually long, it may be desirable to install intermediate valves within a particular block. Most new main installations involve undevel oped areas or areas in the process of development as residential areas. Too frequently we think of present day need for valves and have a tendency to install an absolute minimum num ber. The same areas, when completely built-up, naturally present a greater need for valves and this should be borne in mind at the time of original installation. It would be difficult to find a water distribution system where a surplus of valves had been installed. Industrial Connections Where industrial plants or other large and important customers are connected with a distribution system, it is good practice to encourage the customer to provide two connections to the main and to locate a valve be tween the two points of connection. In this way, it is possible to continue service to the customer regardless of the need to shut down a main in the particular block in which service is provided. Loss of water service to an industrv can result in a complete shut down of the plant and the loss of thousands of hours of labor. Even though such a shut down may occur very infre quently. the avoidance of complete loss of water service to industrial users is well worthy of consideration. Valve Operation We hear a great deal as to the fre quency of operation of valves. It is, of course, to be desired that each valve in the system be .operated at least once a year but few small sys tems undertake a program of main tenance which will provide this. Some consideration should he given to the operation of valves, particularly im portant valves in the system. Operators should be well trained to provide a reasonable time for clos ing and a definite avoidance of closing a valve too quickly. The number of turns required for complete opening and closing of every valve in the sys tem should be known at the time of operation. Motorized valve operat ing equipment is becoming more com mon and represents an indispensable item of equipment in many depart ments. By-passes on large valves serve a very important function in connection with valve operation. Packing Glands Probably the greatest source of annoyance in connection with valve maintenance arises from difficulty with packing glands. Unless valves are located within valve chambers it is not convenient to tighten packing gland holts or to replace faulty pack ing. Some assistance has been pro vided through equipment which per mits some lubrication of the packing through the valve box. Valve cham bers are desirable on large major valves where such are located within the area of rigid pavement. Standardization of Valves The matter of standardization of valves must be considered in any sys tem in respect to the needs of that particular system. The same factors applied to valves will probably apply to meters, hydrants, and other items of material and equipment in any sys tem. In ordering new parts for very old valves, it has been found desira ble to purchase a complete set of in ternal replacement parts rather than procuring an individual item such as a stem. disc. etc. Use of a complete internal valve assembly will accom plish the most effective repair and will avoid difficulties which might be ex perienced in combining old and new operating parts. A water works system should in volve either right hand valves entirely or left hand valves entirely, but prac tically every system has a few valves which operate in what represents a reverse direction for that particular system. When that condition does ex ist, precautions should be taken to avoid assuming that the valve oper ates in the conventional direction. This may be accomplished in several ways. There are some systems where red paint is applied to the underside of the valve box cover to designate a particular valve as being unconven tional in direction of operation. In other systems a similar precaution Water & Sewage Works, February, 1957 72 OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF WATER SYSTEMS TIEING-IN 16-in. cement lined C.l. feeder main with 131 year old 10-in. pipe--Philadelphia, Pa. is undertaken through placing a piece of 2 x 4-in. timber in the valve box and the necessary removal of this calls attention to the reverse direction for operating that particular valve. Valve Boxes and Records Valve boxes should be maintained to provide accessibility to the oper ating nut at all times, even though this sometimes involves a considera ble expense. A valve in the system is of no value whatsoever if it is not accessible for operation. Plugged valve boxes may frequently be cleared by flushing out with high pressure water through a small nozzle or by a blast of air from a compressor. In recent years we have experienced the repaving of many concrete highways through the application of about 2'4 in. of blacktop on top of the old pav ing. This represents a problem in the adjustment of valve boxes, but a small unit is available for placing in the top of an existing valve box to adjust to the height of the new pavement. Valve record cards are probably the most important item of records re lating to the distribution system. There are many ways of providing reference measurements to determine location of valves and a standard sys tem should be adopted in each depart ment. Records of this nature should always be developed from the point of view of convenient field use and not on the basis of an office record which is not immediately available in the field. HYDRANTS Location The matter of spacing of hydrants is important in a system and there is a wide variation in the spacing used. In residential.areas it is desirable that hydrants be no farther apart than 600 ft. In any case, every building should be within 500 ft. of a hydrant. Busi ness and industrial areas require closer hydrant spacing. Wherever possible, it is most desirable to locate hydrants at or near intersections so that they may conveniently serve along blocks in each direction. If hydrants are placed between cor ners, an effort should be made to lo cate the hydrant opposite property boundary lines. They must be pro tected from damage by vehicles. Most customers object to having a hydrant located in front of their property and it has been found desirable to stake the location in advance, with a stake clearly marked "hydrant", so that any difficulty with customers can be worked out prior to placing the hy drant. Be sure to avoid future drive way locations. A standardization of threads must be established and steamer connections should be pro vided. Valves should always be located on branch connections to hydrants and location on the branch near the point of connection to the main is more desirable than any other loca tion. Inspection Hydrants should be inspected peri odically to insure proper operation, adequate drainage and to provide necessary lubrication. Use of hydrants by persons other than department em ployees should be avoided due to possible damage through misuse, quick closing, etc. Where hydrants are used for sewer flushing, an auxil iary valve should be placed on the outlet and this valve operated rather than the hydrant valve, during the progress of such work. It has often been found practicable and desirable to furnish services of a department employee to operate hydrants rather than to permit operation by others. Painting Painting of hydrants should be standardized in any department and should be applied frequently enough to maintain a completely satisfactory and attractive appearance. In most water systems, hydrants are the only part of the system which are in evi dence to the public and a neat ap pearance will provide public admira tion. Many departments have elimi nated chain connections to outlet caps and when these caps are made wrench tight, little disturbance or loss of caps may be expected. It is generally desirable to indi cate the flow capacity of a particular hydrant through marking in some manner. Flow tests should be under taken to determine flow capacities and hydrants marked accordingly. Some departments prefer to indicate the size of the street main and mark this information on the hydrant rather than indicating the capacity. Any in formation which can be provided will be of use to the fire department and help to establish good relations. Wherever hydrants may be taken out of service for a temporary period, or have not yet been provided with service during the construction peri od, a burlap bag should be placed over the hydrant or the hydrant marked in some way to indicate it is out of service. Hydrants should not be used for water required in private construction projects. Hydrant record cards should be provided and all maintenance work undertaken on each particular hydrant should be noted on a continuing rec ord. It has often been found desirable to have maps placed in - fire houses to provide information on location of hydrants for assistance to fire de partment personnel. SERVICES Small service connections are gen erally made through installation of a fitting referred to as a corporation stop but it is difficult to establish the manner in which this name came into common usage. It is noted that plumbers in many areas of the coun try refer to water main piping as "corporation" pipe. Before the time when large private corporations were established, municipal governments were known as "the corporation". People who worked for the state, city, town or village on highway or other type of outside work, were generally referred to as "working for the cor poration". The writer feels that this is the manner in which the designa tion of corporation stop came into common usage. Water & Sewage Works, February, 1957 OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF WATER SYSTEMS 73 Sizing the Service maintenance may be charged to the Determination of proper size of service connections for any particu lar customer should be given con sideration at the time of application. There are definite disadvantages to installation of a service connection which is too large or too small for the particular type of service. The size of the service generally deter mines the size of the meter to be in stalled and a meter larger than re quired is likely to result in under reg istration on small flows. In most areas it is common practice to install meters one size smaller than the size of the service connection. A service connection which is too small for the service desired will, of course, result in complaints of inadequate service. Some departments, as long as 20 years ago, were installing a customer. Care should be exercised to install service connections at sufficient depth to prevent freezing. The thawing of frozen services is not particularly dif ficult but has considerable nuisance value, develops poor public relations and requires a continuous flow of wa ter being maintained after thawing until all danger of freezing is over for the season. There are a variety of opinions as to the advantages of installing serv ice connections in advance of building needs and this has resulted from the extra expense required for installa tion after pavement has been com pleted. Pipe pushing and boring equipment has effectively reduced the amount of open trench installation. Too frequently service connections in MOBILE radio phone aids communications--Cape Cod, Mass access for reading by meter readers. Any poor settings or locations should be corrected at the earliest opportuni minimum size service connection ot stalled many years in advance of ty. . 1-in. copper in order to provide com building needs have resulted in the It is frequently found that munici pletely adequate service many years stub service being at the wrong lo pal utilities require purchase of a me later. cation or of inadequate size. The par ter by the customer even though con Selection of material should be ticular factors related to each indi trol rests with the utility. Since the given adequate consideration. Copper vidual community would be of great meter represents the cash register of tubing is by far the most popular importance in establishing a policy. the water utility, it is desirable that material for small service installa The two main systems eliminate the both ownership and control be vested tions. In most cases, the corporation need for such considerations. in the water department. One of the stop is inserted at an angle of 45 As is true of all other distribution great advantages is represented by the above horizontal with sufficient pip system appurtenances, service record fact that ownership by the utility ing material available to provide for cards are of great importance. They avoids the necessity of maintaining some movement of the service con should effectively designate the par any particular meter at the same loca nection piping without creating a ticular location of the point of tap tion at all times. strain at the point of connection. and curb shut off and should provide The meter maintenance shop should When the corporation stop is not conveniently available for shutting off to undertake repairs, excellent results may be obtained through use of dry ice for freezing. It is often found de sirable to replace old service connec a convenient method of satisfactory measurement to locate the curb box rapidly. The record should also in clude installation details and any maintenance work performed on the service connection. be adequately equipped to provide the complete requirements of testing and repairing. An excellent article on "Equipment and Layout of Meter Maintenance Shop" appeared in the June 1954 Journal of AWWA. . tions rather than to accomplish a re pair, once a failure has occurred. METERS STORAGE Curb shut offs should be main tained in proper operating conditions at all times and this will require peri odic inspection and operation. Lids Nothing is of more importance to good revenue production than an ade quate meter maintenance program. All small meters should be brought Whether storage of water in the system is maintained as ground stor age in open reservoirs or as elevated storage in tanks and standpipes, it is for curb boxes have a tendency to into the shop, cleaned, repaired, test important that good housekeeping be become damaged but repair lids are ed and properly adjusted on a peri maintained to set a pattern for the readily available and easy to install. odic schedule. Large meters require community. These facilities are in the A plugged curb box may frequently similar work in the field. The fre same classification as city buildings be cleared through use of blowing out quency of inspection and maintenance and all other public property and with high pressure air or washing varies on small meters from five to should always be outstanding in ap out with a jet stream. ten year periods but should logically pearance. Invariably good housekeep be based on the volume of water pass ing of this sort will also provide more Cost of Installation ing through the ` meter rather than effective use for longer life. time. There is a wide variation of opinion In the majority of municipal oper Many large utilities remove resi in respect to use of supply or storage ations, the cost of installation of a dential meters upon registration of reservoir property for recreational service connection is generally paid one hundred thousand cubic feet. purposes. It is necessary to guard for by the customer and in some cases Average sized families would be ex against misuse and recreational use the department requires maintenance pected to use this amount in approxi might better be avoided unless ade of the entire service connection at the mately ten years. Privately owned quate policing can be provided, rather expense of the customer. It is felt de utilities are generally regulated than to permit a nuisance and possible sirable that all work performance in through .state utility commissions and source of pollution to develop. maintenance of service connections, definite schedules for meter main between the main and the curb shut tenance are established. DEMANDS off, be undertaken by department Meters should be located in such During the past few years of fre forces, even though the cost of such a manner as to provide convenient quent droughts in many areas of the vter & Sewage Works, February, 1957 74 OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF WATER SYSTEMS METER lest shop containing modern equipment--Colorado Springs, Colo. country, more than one thousand wa ter systems throughout the U.S. have found it impossible to meet total de mands on their systems at some time during the year. The developement of our high standard of living has re-' suited in continuing increased use of water by all consumers and the popu lation of the country is growing by leaps and bounds. Industrial demands have grown steadily and it is anticipated that they may more than double in the next 20 years. Air conditioning is developing a tremendous load on some water sys tems in commercial and industrial areas. Lawn sprinkling has frequent ly developed peak demands far in ex cess of adequate fire flow require ments in residential areas. Fire flow requirements were formerly used to determine peak capacity needs in many water systems but industrial and sprinkling loads may be expected to exceed these demands in many areas. ' The operator of a water distribu tion system should be entirely familiar with what is taking place on the sys tem during periods of peak use. Pres sure tests under peak loads are of tre mendous help in determining adequa cy of service or need for reinforce ment of any particular part of the system. It is relatively simple to obtain hy drant pressures throughout the sys tem during these periods. Pitot and fire flow tests must be undertaken periodically to develop information for necessary hydraulic study at fre quent intervals. Major hydraulic grade study or similar investigation of conditions should be undertaken at regular intervals to provide long range planning on any system. A con siderable amount of information may be obtained during the peak season by water department forces which will provide valuable information for both short range and long range planning. CUSTOMER SERVICE The legal obligations related to wa ter service on the part of a utility are generally within the limits of pub lic property. The exception might be the meter, which may be located in the customers premises. However, the utility may well consider a moral obligation to extend service, but not necessarily responsibility or repairs, to include matters related to the use of water within the premises. This philosophy of service is rather exten sively performed in the electric, gas and other utility fields. Xo matter how well a water dis tribution system may be operated or maintained, the existance of unsatis factory conditions within the custom ers premises may result in unwar ranted criticism of the utility. One of the most extensive prob lems of customer service in a water utility is the handling of complaints. These represent a tremendous variety but in general most complaints, re gardless of the foundation, occur at a time when the consumer has just re ceived or is proceeding with payment of a bill. Complaints should not be treated lightly, since the average cus tomer may have some reason for com plaining only once in 10 years or more time and yet this will likely be his only contact with the department dur ing that period of time. In order to perform the function of the department and maintain good public relations, it is necessary that adequate service be rendered to the customer. Every complaint is worthy of complete investigation and when complete investigation is undertaken, there is invariably a reasonable an swer as to the cause of the condition which resulted in the complaint. Complaint Handling The most frequent complaint from customers relates to what may be classified as an unusually large or at least an increased bill for water. In one particular municipal utility, an extreme effort was undertaken to def initely prove the reason for the in crease in consumption which resulted Water & Sewage Works, February, 1957 OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF WATER SYSTEMS 75 in the complaint. In practically every investigation, a satisfactory answer was determined and it was rare to find a case where this was not true. The procedure which was used pro vided for sending an inspector to the property with complete information as to meter readings, dates and con sumption recorded for several periods prior to the current period under in vestigation. An additional reading at the time of investigation, which prob ably involved a relatively short peri od following the previous reading, was first obtained and all usage was converted into average daily require ments for each period in gallons or cubic feet per day. These units can easily be extended for 90-dav periods for convenient comparison when dis cussing quarterly consumption with the customer. Actual tests were made to deter mine exact requirements for water in the operation of each water closet at the property. A record was made of any appliances requiring water. The number of persons served at the prop erty was of great importance and was used in establishing per capita uses for comparison to average demands bv other customers. Every complaint resulted in a complete letter report to the customer from the manager or a conference between the customer and manager to discuss all of the fac tors involved. It was generally found that the ma jority of complaints relating to in creased billing resulted from leakage within the customer's property. It was determined that alertness on the part of the meter readers could determine this prior to the ac tual billing time and generally re sulted in more prompt repair of leaks. Meter readers were trained to make comparisons with consump tion during previous periods at the time of meter reading. If increase con sumption were noted, they immediate ly listened on the service at the meter to determine whether water was run ning continuously. Wherever possible, the matter was discussed to some ex tent with the customer at that time. Tf the matter was not resolved imme diately. the meter slip was designated by code number as requiring addition al investigation by an inspector. In this way the majority of increased bills was investigated and resolved from one to three weeks prior to the actual rendering of the bill. A continuing program with con scientious effort can result in tre mendous improvements in public re lations as well as considerable savings' through reducing wastage of water. CAUSES of leaks. Assortment of service pipes--Glen Ellyn, III. Meter Reading Wherever access for meter readings cannot be obtained, it is generally de sirable to leave a post card to provide for convenient reading by the custom er. Where this has not been found satisfactory, arrange to leave some notification that an effort has been made to read the meter. Efforts of this nature are always a safeguard against complaints which may result at some future time since many cus tomers became very irritated when their regular billing period has been skipped, or estimated bills are estab lished. Capable and alert meter readers can be a most valuable asset. Too often their work has been limited to noth ing more than a simple recording of a meter reading. Most meter readers are capable of using good judgment and should be encouraged to observe and report changes in rate of con sumption. as well as any unusual or undesirable conditions. Many such conditions occur frequently and may be conveniently reported by code number. Any follow-up required may be undertaken by other employees. In one department, the following code was attached to each meter readers book to permit ease in reporting that he was aware of specific factors at the time of reading, or conditions which required some further effort. 1. Meter not registering 2. Was a leak--has been repaired 3. Water closet leaking 4. Bad faucet leak 5. Meter coupling leaking 6. Meter stuffing box leaking 7. Meter registering slowly--indicating leak 8. Meter registering slowly--water cooled equipment 9. Consumption high--reading correct 10. Consumption low--reading correct 11. Meter not accessible 12. Premises vacant--left card 13. Quarantined 14. Glass broken 15. Register broken lb. Frozen 17. Meter set backwards 18. Hear water running--meter not reg istering 19. Meter seal broken 20. Meter working O. K. When attempting to provide an ef ficient operation of a water distribu tion system, nothing pays greater dividends than the exertion of a sin cere. conscientious effort and the ap plication of good common sense on the part of the manager. Water & Sewage Works, February, 1957 76 METER test benches in water department--Edmonton, Alberta Why Water Meters are Advantageous* Case histories show benefits of 100 per cent metering to water utilities . WATER--one of the essentials of life--should be free to all. Yes, as free as when quietly resting in a lake, running in a river or babbling in a by H. G. GREER Mr. Greer is a sales engineer with Neptune mountain brook. That it is free in either place will not be denied, yet Meters, Limited in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. when we come to utilize it for domes tic purposes it will cost either money, In this article he cites examples to prove his time or labor and will have a fixed value per gallon. thesis that water metering is good business. Water cannot be obtained from any source without an investment that has a money value, be it either time or labor. If we go to the lake, river or brook, where it flows as free as the air we breathe, we cannot procure addition of chemicals to make it fit for human consumption and the vast delivery system of water mains throughout the municipality to deliv cost for the convenience, the labor of taking care of the works, the chem icals to purify it and-the interest on the money invested, etc. Theoretical it and cam' it home without labor, er it to each and every fixture in ly, every consumer of water does as and we find it does cost something. every home and every industry twen sent to this, but practically he ignores Under no circumstances can we obtain water without it having a fixed value represented by money, includ ing the cost of pumping, filtration. ty-four hours a day. Standing by whenever it is needed, be it a glassful or thousands of gallons to put out a fire. it entirely. It is not infrequent for consumers to use many times the amount of water allotted to them, seeming to be utterly oblivious to the fact that they are doing a great moral *A paper presented at the Western Ontario Water and Sewage Conference. Published here by permission. Metering Is Equitable Every good citizen will feel it a duty to pay his proportion of the wrong to their fellow citizens who are made to pay for their individual waste. Water & Sewage Works, February, 1957