20210114Teton Water to Staff 1-4.pdf

TETON WATER & SEWER COMPANY
PO Box 786, Driggs ldaho 83422
To
RE:
Date:January 14,202I
Idaho Public Utilities Commission
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Prepared By: Jon Pinardi, Teton Water & Sewer Company
Office (208) 3 54-0256, Cell (208) 201 -47 98
Case No. TTS-W-20-02
Response to First Production Request of Commission Staff
Request No. I
Question - Please provide all available photos of the repair projects included in this Application.
Response - Included as Attachments to Email.
Request No. 2 - In reference to the 37 Tarshee Trail Proiect
What caused the Company to look for a leak at this location? After purchasing the leak detection
equipment, we began methodically walking sections of the route of the mainlines through the system to
see if we could find leaks using the ground microphones. Although a very slow and arduous process, the
equipment indicated a leak at this location.
Was the new leak detection equipment used to find the location of the leak? Yes. There was no visible sign of
a leak at the surface.
How accurate was the equipment in locating the location of the leak? It was within about 10'. The leak
detection equipment provider was very surprised the microphone picked up the leak at the I I' depth.
Did the inaccurate depth on the plans cause an increase in the cost for this repair? Yes, although the plans
themselves didn't increase the cost. Had we known the depth, we would have started with an Excavator,
perhaps saving some incremental time and money. This is the 2nd repair in this area, both have been at
this depth.
We started work with a backhoe in a standard trench. As the trench and depth grew, we were beyond
the backhoe capabilities. We called in an excavator for both practical and safety reasons. As the depth
continued to grow and we had still not located the leak, the safety risk of a non-supported deep trench
grew so the trench was widened for safety and lengthened further to find the leak. The leak was on the
seryice line within inches of the corp stop at the mainline. The mainline was at the edge of the asphalt,
about 10' from where the leak detector indicated.
How did the curb stop become damaged? The curb box, not the stop, was damaged, it was bent and unable
to be operated with a valve key. This was a vacant lot although construction had recently begun. We
have many damaged curb boxes on vacant lots, probably dating to when the developer had the lots
"mowed" with a tractor for appearances.
Request No 3 - In reference to the 2 Curtis Circle Proiect
Explain and provide evidence of how this project satisfies the parameters that the reserve fund be used only for
emergencies and major unplanned capital expenditures. I don't know that I can provide "evidence". Our
understanding of the reserve fund, however, is that it is designed to deal with projects of this type.
This project was an emergency in that the customer was having "significant" sedimentation coming into
his home, plugging his filter and appurtenances, reducing his water volume and pressure and potentially
causing damage to all of the plumbing systems and fixtures within the home. It was not a planned capital
expenditure.
We believe that we were very prudent on this project in an attempt to solve the problem through less
intrusive and costly solutions before the final solution was found. The project could have cost more had
we not acted in the manner we did. The conventional solution would have involved excavating through
the road to the mainline on the opposite side.
Did the silt issue present a water-quality issue that could affect the health of the occupants? I don't believe it
caused a health issue per se. It did cause water quality, volume and pressure issues and would have
ultimately damaged very expensive interior plumbing mechanical systems and fixtures if left unchecked.
Did the company find the root cause of the silt issue? Not entirely, our belief is that a) Sediment built up
over time at a 90 degree turn in the mainline, perhaps dating to when the well (which is close proximity)
came on line in the early 2000's and b) That the design of the service connection immediately before the
90 degree turn exacerbated the problem over time. We know there is sediment from the well every time
it cycles. Perhaps this area does not become flushed when we conduct flushing operations. Without
digging up the mainline and doing a physical inspection, I don't believe we will ever know for certain.
Of interest, we ended up connecting to an existing curb stop owned by the same customer on the adjacent
lot. This curb stop is closer to the well which produces the sediment, however, the service is a traditional
service line which comes off a straight section of main line. There have been no complaints from the
customer with the new connection. This further validates our hypotheses about the cause, that it is not
the proximity to the well but how or where the service line was connected.
Provide a drawing of the unique connection to the mainline. Enclosed page from As-Builts.
Why does this home have a unique connection? Unknown. It was simply engineered and/or built that way
Why did the silt issue take approximately 9 months to resolve? To be prudent, we tried smaller inexpensive
fixes to resolve the problem over time. The resident is not a year-round resident but frequents the home
often so we tried to time solutions to when we could get feedback from the resident. We worked with
them over time but when the smaller solutions failed to resolve the problem, we decided we needed a
different approach.
Are there any other connections like 2 Curtis Circle on the system? I don't know. I have not looked at all of
the As-Builts with that in mind. To date, we have had no other sediment complaints.
As a side note, this project enabled us to install a meter and meter pit at this location. The cost of the
meter and meter pit was not included in this project request.
Request No 4 - In reference to the 20 Blackfoot Trail proiect
Explain and provide evidence of how this project satisfies the parameters that the reserve fund be used only for
emergencies and major unplanned capital expenditures. I don't know that I can provide ,,evidencer', again,our understanding of the reserve fund is that it is designed to deal with projects of this scope.
This project was an emergency in that the customer had a leak at the internal shut-off valve in their
home that, if not repaired in a timely manner, could cause damage to the home. We were called to shut-off the curb stop so their plumber could make the repair. However, after spending hours attempting tolocate the curb stop using both metal detectors and As-Builts with oo rucceir, we decided to excavate
where the curb stop should be. Our thought was that we would either find the remnants of a damagedcurb box buried deep underground or we would find the service line. This plan was based on the hiitorythat most of the curb stops are fairly close to the As-Builts except in depth. Also, the curb stop across thestreet and on the adjacent lot to the west were exactly where they were supposed to be on the plans.
We first brought in a backhoe but were unable to locate the curb stop or the service line. We then
decided to expose the mainline with the excavator at the point where the corp stop should be. Again,normally, the plans are accurate in this regard. You will see in the photos that a very sizeable hole wasexcavated not only where the mainline should have been but within the proximity shown on the plans.
We never found the mainline. At that point, it was determined that the As-Builts were not accuiate andthat the mainline and curb stop could, in fact, be anywhere. We stopped excavating, isolated the sectionof mainline and shutoff the main (and water to other customers) so the plumber could make the repair.
A few days later, I spent a few more hours trying to find the curb stop, it was located about 20 yards
away from the excavation area. The good news is we found the curb stop, the bad news is that we stilldon't know where the mainline is. The engineering firm was also consulted throughout this process byphone. At this point they have admitted the mainline location, as well as the road, may not have beenaccurately portrayed on the As-Builts.
Explain how the Company plans to better locate curb stops in the future to avoid large excavation projects.
Following this project, we began locating all of the curb stops throughout the system on bothdevelopedand undeveloped lots. With about 600/o of the locate project complete, there are about 10 that we have
not found yet. This project will be complete in 2021.
We do not have a solution to excavation if a curb stop cannot be located by metal detector.
For the record, before excavation, we tested Sewerin's line locating equipment on this project specificallyto find either the mainline or the service line. It users a "knocker" connected to a hydiani or vatve tomake a noise which you then listen with the ground microphone (which we own) to follow the sound
along a line. The system did not work as designed, probably due to the plastic pipe and depths.
Explain how the Company ensures that As-Builts are updated when errors are found. Notations are made onthe Master set of plans for all future reference. We keep a field set and a master set.
Companv Ouestion for Commission - Re: 73 Beeslev Lane proiect
We did not see any questions relative to the repair made at 73 Beesley Lane. Is this something you would like
for the Company to address?
Post-script and Lookine Ahead
The Company is attempting to be very prudent in our approach to all of the repairs. It is unfortunate that we are
having to-spend this amount of energy and capital on repairs to what is a relatively new system.
That said, we believe there are more leaks present at this time and there will be more in the future putting
further strain on the reserve account.
For example, on January 4,z)zl,we located a leak at a curb stop. In the course of a week it grew dramatically
requiring a repair to be made on January 1lft. This leak was on the Company's service line approximately 6"
mrm tfre curU stop. The depth was I I ' and required excavation of a customer's asphalt driveway. This leak is 2
connections u*uy f.o111 a leak we repaired a few years ago. This is in the Mountain Meadows section of the
development. To date, we have ,ro* hud 7 leaks on the service line between the corp and curb stops in this
section of the development. ln addition, we have had 3 leaks on Targhee Trail in the last few years, all within
inches of the corp stop on the service line'
In comparing current water production from the wells to sewer outflows during the winter months, we see that
there is a current 100,000 gpd water loss +/- at this time. We have obtained price quotes fromleak detection
companies that use conela:ting equipment as well as obtained price quotes to purchase correlating equipment.
Alttr-ough a final decision fras nof yit been made, at this time, we are leaning toward the purchase of our own
correlaiing equipment so that we can identiff our current leaks and conduct periodic leak detection in the most
value-oriented manner.
Regarding the repairs of any leaks we find, our intention is to use the reserve account for making these repairs
in itre calindar year 2021and beyond. It would be helpful to know if this is going to be allowed by the
Commissiol goirg forward. Thise leaks may or may not be an emergency but are what we would consider
unplanned capital expenditures.
Thank you,
Jon Pinardi
Teton Water & Sewer ComPanY
Office [phone]
Cell [phone]