Stopping Those Leaks!

This is ‘Stop a Leak’ month and JBWD has a very cool demonstration at our Farmer’a Market booth. Using an old IV bag, we clearly show that it does not take long for a little drip to add up to a significant, and costly, water loss.

A few weeks ago I had a leak. I quickly discovered that knowing you have a leak and finding it so it can be repaired are two very different, and sometimes very expensive, things. 

After a couple of failed attempts to find it ourselves, I called a local leak detection company. They walked around a bit and then decided that the best way to locate the leak would be with compressed air. 

Now, never having had a leak before, I was truly ignorant. But I quickly learned that putting compressed air through 60-year-old galvanized steel pipes is not a good idea. You can only imagine what more than a half century of rust and other debris released into a water system can do. One toilet stopped working immediately, the water heater began making terrible clanging noises, and what was coming out of my faucets wasn’t pretty. In addition, all that debris temporarily sealed the leak so now there was nothing to find. 

Of course, it wasn’t long until the leak resurfaced. So how did we finally find it? I called a friend in construction who noticed a damp spot a few feet from my meter. A little digging revealed that the ancient main line was riddled with tiny holes and needed to be replaced.  A week later, with more drama than I would have liked and most of the week without running water, it was repaired. 

Am I back to normal? Not yet. The fill valve in the toilet has clogged again and the water heater continues to sound like a medieval torture chamber. But as a veteran of the water leak wars, I can offer some advice.

First, leaks are expensive and you don’t want to wait until you get a $600 bill from JBWD to know you have one. I now check my water meter on a regular basis. It’s easy and if you don’t know how, we can show you at our booth. Just make sure the water in the house and yard is off. Then if the little arrow is moving, water is escaping somewhere. The faster it’s spinning, the bigger the leak.

You might also consider turning off your water at the meter when you’re leaving town for more than a couple of days. Just be aware if you have an ice maker or an irrigation system, to turn those off, too.

For other ideas or to get some free septic-tank safe tablets to identify leaking toilets, come by our booth at Farmers Market. Put one of these tablets in your toilet’s water tank, wait 15 minutes and if the water in the toilet bowl turns blue, it’s leaking.

Thanks for your help in conserving our precious water.

JBWD's Strategic Plan Update

Our strategic planning workshop was impressive. While yesterday's focus was the Board and our goals, it also included the management staff. 

That led to a few interesting moments, such as when a board member expressed concern over a maintenance issue and the field guys couldn't believe we didn’t know it had already been addressed. Amazing, isn't it, how often it all boils down to communication?

Martin Rauch was our facilitator. Developing strategic plans with districts like ours is his specialty. He actually knows us well after guiding us through a very comprehensive evaluation of the General Manager. In my mind, this was a natural next step and he not only met, but exceeded, my expectations.

For the strategic plan, Martin focused on the Board's priorities and what each of us felt were the most important issues to address. 

All that preparation really paid off. The day was comprehensive, well-organized, and extremely productive. We also reached our goals in record time!

But no matter how good a plan is, it must be implemented. Today Martin is working with management on a work plan that will achieve the Board's goals, including specific steps, due dates and accountability. 

As I said, pretty impressive.