Aspen Regional Water Service Crews spent three days repairing its raw water supply line May 8-10 after a small leak in the pipe discovered late April became more serious.
Aspen Regional Water Services manager Jamie Giberson said the pipe was originally leaking at a rate of two litres per second, but increased to five litres per second by the time crews were able to locate it just south of the Athabasca Skateboard Park. By the time crews identified the issue, the raw water holding pond fed by the raw water line was only 50 per cent full.
“We originally thought the leak was located at a control valve, but once crews excavated, they discovered the failed coupler further upstream from the valve,” he said. “We found it at a location where there is an angle or a 45-degree elbow.”
Giberson said the pipeline was drained down and crews excavated the pipe, cut out the failed section and installed a new 45-degree elbow and repair coupling. The line was then refilled with water to ensure that the line was functioning properly. Once it was determined there were no further leaks, Giberson said the line was fully pressurized and backfilled.
Giberson said there was no connection between this leak and two other leaks that have occurred over the past 16 months. He said while the May leak occurred in the pipe supplying water to the commission’s raw water holding pond, the other two happened in pipes transporting treated water away from the facility to member municipalities.
“When we first noticed the leak we were speculating that it could be around the control valves and those control valves have a face similar to what we were seeing on the treated water line,” he said.
“But after the excavation, we’ve learned that it was not at that face,” he added. “Our speculation was that it could have been something similar, but after our evacuation we learned it was not.”
Giberson said he hoped as the commission makes the repairs, the weak points in the system can be identified and addressed.
“We hope that we’ll have less of these in the near future,” he said.
