Laserfiche WebLink
<br />In addition to water spilled at the treatment plants, in most years the Town also <br />spills significant water in its distribution system before it ever gets to the Town's <br />treatment plant. There is not a great deal of data available about system spills, but <br />information recorded by John Norris in 2001 indicates that during May and June of that <br />year over 45 million gallons (138 acre-feet) of water was spilled at German Creek in the <br />upper collection system and another 11 million gallons (34 acre-feet) was spilled from <br />the 5-inch Upper Paonia Pipeline in the lower collection system. <br /> <br />In dryer years, these collection spills are much lower. For example, as of the <br />first week of June 2002, a small amount of water had just begun to spill at German <br />Creek. Despite the fact that 2002 was one of the driest years on record, there was 0.5 <br />cubic foot per second of water available to the Town at the Lake Fork Springs that had <br />not been used as of early June of that year. <br /> <br />The data provided by the Town indicates that an average annual treated outflow <br />of 184 million gallons (565 acre-feet) was required to meet the metered average annual <br />demands of 141 million gallons (433 acre-feet). This indicates a significant system loss <br />of approximately 43 million gallons (132 acre-feet) or 16 percent of the total inflow and <br />23 percent of the treated water demands. System losses include leaks and other <br />unaccounted for water. Closer review of the data indicates that most of the system <br />losses were occurring in the older, lower distribution system where approximately 28 <br />percent of the treated outflow was lost in the distribution system. Tlhe newer upper <br />system lost about 14 percent to system losses and other unaccounted water. <br /> <br />18 <br />