Port Richey wonders where water went

Leaks and crossover with county pipes are suspected, but they're tough to track.

By Camille C. Spencer, Times Staff Writer
Published February 24, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT City attorney James Mathieu says an answer may be months away.

PORT RICHEY - Last year, James Mathieu noticed the city utility was losing about 25 percent of its water.

Each month between 5-million and 10-million gallons of water just vanished. That translated into a loss of $1.5-million over the past three years.

A test conducted in December revealed the culprit was most likely a crossover with Pasco utility pipes allowing Port Richey's water to just trickle away. But when workers tried the same test a few days later, they found no city water in the county pipes.

To try to solve the mystery of the missing water, city utility workers began testing every inch of the city's 4 miles of water lines.

They examined leaks, tested flow rates and evaluated residents' water bills to make sure the correct amount of water was being pumped into their neighborhoods.

But now city officials aren't so sure the county is the source of their water woes.

"We worked with them Port Richey on a couple shutdowns out there to verify we didn't have the problem they suspected, and I think that was sort of the end of it," said Bruce Kennedy, assistant county administrator for utility services. "I haven't heard another word."

James Mathieu, the city attorney who was also interim manager when the issue came to light, said it will take months to determine the source of the problem.

"We may need some expertise and special equipment," Mathieu said of the testing. "We are going out of our way to research the issue."

And for a city on the verge of ending its reliance on New Port Richey for water - four new wells should be ready to use by the year's end - Mathieu said finding the source of the missing water is key.

"We wouldn't be wasting our time if we didn't have reason to believe (that water was missing)," Mathieu said. "We're just trying to cut down on our water loss. We have new wells going in shortly, so we'd like to get a handle on how much water we are pumping into the ground and how much is going into our system."

Started with rumors

The city's water loss came to light last fall. As interim city manager, Mathieu also oversaw the city's finance and utility departments.

After hearing rumors of possible water leaks, Mathieu asked the utility department how much of the city's water was being lost to leaks, old meters or interference with another water line.

The utility department found the city's water loss was about 25 percent, much higher than the 3 or 4 percent loss some cities experience.

Mathieu wondered if there could be a crossing of pipes with the county, so he asked city and county workers to test water lines near Gulfview Square Mall, where the city and county's water lines are in close proximity. The workers also ran tests at various sites along U.S. 19, where some businesses had reported leaks.

"The county had a leak in one of their properties on (U.S.) 19. We had a spike in our water usage. Common sense dictates that's a leak," Mathieu said. "When the repair was fixed, the spike went down."

The city and county tested various valves, and at first it appeared some city water was ending up in county pipes. But when the workers tested those valves a second time, it appeared no water was transferring over.

Some of the other testing involved shutting down water lines at the mall, which is on county water, and learning that the city could turn on the mall's water by turning one of its valves, Mathieu said.

City utility workers are still hunting for the source of the missing water. Initially, workers thought they were looking for one leak, but it now appears the water loss could come from a combination of leaks in different places.

Since December, Mathieu said, the lost water has decreased by about 25 percent. Even so, he says a significant amount of water is still being lost.

Test, test, more tests

Pat Stewart, Port Richey's utilities supervisor, said while a crossing with county pipes was "strongly suspected," testing will continue until city workers can nail down the source of the water loss.

So far, utility workers are still in the process of testing the first mile of lines, Stewart said.

"Since December, we've been chasing down lines," he said. "We've found a number of leaks we've been repairing."

Richard Reade, city manager, didn't have figures on how much the testing was costing the city.

"Depending on the type of leak and type of pipe, there's labor and overtime if a leak is detected in the evening or after hours," he said. "If there's a piece of equipment we don't have, we have to rent it. I don't know if we can calculate that."

As far as whether the county and city's water lines are overlapping, Reade said he "won't speculate."

"It's important for us that the community is aware we know where all our water is," he said. "People have to understand there's a lot of old pipes out there."

Camille C. Spencer can be reached at cspencer@sptimes.com or (727) 869-6229.

[Last modified February 23, 2008, 20:21:46]