Below the Valley: A look at pipeline infrastructure

It was a busy scene Tuesday on Avenue 38 in Indio, where a water main break the day before had caused quite a mess, spilling water out onto the roadway, knocking over a light pole and leaving some residents without water for hours.

The Coachella Valley Water District said there is no way to pin down exactly what happened, excpet that it was a failure on the pipe most likely due to aging.

Spokesman Robert Keeran told CBS Local 2’s and KESQ News Channel 3’s Katie Widner that it is hard to inspect pipeline infrastructures that are buried underground.

“It’s difficult to know exactly when and where these failures will happen,” Keeran said.

It is a difficulty that every water agency faces with the miles of pipes that serve their customers.

“Our job is to maintain that asset and make sure it’s good, and we do that year-round,” said John Soulliere, conservation and public affairs officer with the Mission Springs Water District in Desert Hot Springs.

Soulliere said the pipes generally have a life expectancy of 40 years, although sometimes it can more and sometimes it can be less. Occasionally, he said, there are indicators of pipe deterioration.

“Usually, it starts with small leaks and not catalystic leaks, and we can find out if your pipes are getting older and say, ‘Is it better for us to keep repairing sections of it or replace it?”‘ Soulliere added.

In many situations, agencies have their pipeing system mapped out so they can shut it down quickly.

“We have maps of where valves are located so we’re able to, at times, valve off certain sections and keep people in water,” Keeran said. “Sometimes it just happens where we can’t do that.”

Keeran added that during the incident on Monday, they were not able to reroute the water for some residents. Once the water was turned back on, some people had to wait longer than others. He likened it to filling a bathtub, those at the bottom of the slope got their water services back first and those at the top of the slope had to wait for it to fill back up.