City Scene - July 2001: Water leaks quickly stopped

July 2001

Public must get involved in debate

Make sure you’re enrolled to have your say

City still a great place to live

Big upswing in kerbside recycling

Help wanted in stamping out illegal parking

Water leaks quickly stopped

A spectacular water leak in a city street.

Bruce Henderson would like a dollar for every time he has received a telephone call about a water leak because the meter box is full of water.

This is a frequent occurrence in winter and without fail he is able to point out to callers that the recent rain has filled up the meter boxes.

But not all complaints to the Christchurch City Council’s Water and Waste Unit are so easily answered.

However, the unit’s planning and projects manager is able to point to a pretty good record of fixing water leaks.

Bruce Henderson says that 95 per cent of all reported leaks in the Council’s system are repaired within a three-point schedule.

The U action (urgent for major leaks) has a crew on site within one hour and the leak repaired within 12 hours of the issuing of the work instruction. Bruce Henderson says this guideline is achieved in 98 per cent of cases.

Next comes the repair for leaks of medium severity. Repairs are completed within one working day of issue of the work instruction. This is achieved in 91 per cent of cases.

Minor leaks are repaired within three working days and a 97 per cent achievement rate is reached here.

Bruce Henderson points out that all his water pipes are buried and it is difficult to carry out positive maintenance. So it is mostly a matter of waiting for a leak to show itself on the surface and then act.

The unit receives about 10,000 phone calls a year, mostly about leaks, and most, except ones such as filled water meters, are genuine. They are immediately prioritised into the three categories.

Christchurch has 3000km of water pipes and 1300km of them are mains. The type of pipe - cast iron, steel, fibrolite, plastics -marks the eras of installation. The cast iron type was installed in the early 1900s and is still structurally sound. The only snag with them is that some are too small to accommodate the increasingly larger water demands.

Most common leaks occur at connections and in smaller pipes rather than the larger ones.The spectacular leaks bring publicity but they are few and far between, he says.

As the city grows Bruce Henderson must constantly look towards keeping up with demand. He says growth is taking place on the Port Hills, and in the north-east of the city.

He believed the Wigram area will be next to show growth.

Bruce Henderson points out two things:

If a leak occurs on a property it is householder’s responsibility.

If it is raining when a leak is discovered do check that it is nothing more than the rain.