Water districts trying to stay on top of future leaks

A recent water pipeline rupture on Fred Waring Drive has many worried about the quality of our infrastructure.

After nearly a week of repairs that section of the road in Indian Wells is up and running.

Both Coachella Valley Water District and the Indio Water Authority said leaks like the one this weekend are normal wear and tear but there are numerous ways they try to stay on top of leaks.

“Aging is a big part of why pipes break, pipes get old and they wear down and they leak. Sometimes they have isolated cases where there’s a problem with the construction or the materials but the vast majority of the time it’s normal wear and tear,” CVWD Communications Director Heather Engel said.

But there are ways CVWD is staying on top of these leaks.

“With sewer pipe we have a program where we regularly video inspect them. You can put little tiny video cameras down the manhole covers and you can hopefully find a problem before it causes any destruction,” Engel said.

Indio Water Authority is also staying ahead of the game.

They conducted what they call a leak audit two years ago.

“We looked at 10 percent of our older system to see if there are any leaks in that area and what we found is again being a newer system we didn’t have that many leaks but that’s not stopping us from going out and fixing potential problem areas,” General Manager Brian Macy said.

Both agencies urge customers to let them know if they see water coming up from the asphalt

“Keeping an eye on leaks, understanding that they’re going to happen but what’s important is for us to focus on minimizing those leaks and finding the small leaks and minimizing them before they become destructive,” Engel said.

CVWD is also in the process of rolling out a new asset management program within the next few years which will help them get ahead of potential leaks and problems.