BILLINGS — The start of summer in Billings usually means turning on the sprinklers, watering the lawn, and jumping in the pool, but for the city's Public Works Department, it also signals the potential for water main breaks.
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Over Memorial Day weekend, Billings experienced an alarming five water main breaks that flooded streets and even damaged property. From minor leaks to major ruptures, the breaks cost the city thousands and stretched city crews thin.
The breaks occurred at the 3500 block of Cook Avenue, Gabel Road and South 30th Street West, Fourth Avenue North and North 13th Street, 13th Street West and Central Avenue, and Parkview Drive and Lewis Avenue.
The Cook Avenue incident experienced a fire hydrant line burst that turned the street into a shallow lake late Sunday night. The next night, one tenant near Central Avenue and 17th Street had her basement-level apartment completely flooded.
According to Public Works Director Debi Meling, the breaks do not come as a surprise. Typically a change in pressure or demand, such as the start of summer watering season or winter cold spells, can uncover weak spots in the system.
“This weekend, demand increased across the system, so we typically run about 16 million gallons per day in the winter, and we ran about 30 (a day) all weekend," said Meling.
The city usually experiences 50 to 60 breaks a year. Costs for repairs can range from a few thousand dollars to upwards of $20,000 per break depending on the severity and timing of discovery. On the high end, the annual cost of breaks can reach $500,000.
"We had one this weekend that was a 12-inch that completely blew the pipe. Half of the pipe was gone, so those put out a lot of water really quickly, and we see more damage on those,” said Meling.
Age is not always the culprit. While most of the breaks happened in older 1980s ductile iron pipes, one occurred in newer PVC lines like on Fourth Avenue. Of the about 500 miles of water lines in Billings, 38.1% are made of PVC, 26.9% cast iron, 23.8% ductile iron, 2.9% prestressed concrete cylinder pipe, and 8.2% other or unknown.
Though the size of a water leak can be alarming, the total amount lost is relatively small in scale, sometimes as little as .02% of the daily usage, according to Meling.
"It is negligible how much water we lose on mains like this, or breaks like this, compared to how much water is actually produced in a year," said Meling.
However, water that escapes the system is considered "unaccounted-for," which, over time, can affect utility bills for ratepayers.
"If your utility has a lot of main breaks and you have a lot of lost water, the costs for your utility are higher," said Meling. "Our goal is always to keep our unaccounted-for water as low as possible, and we are on the low end of what is typically seen in a system."
These water breaks were once much worse. In the 1980s, Billings saw an average of 200 breaks annually, but that number is now a quarter of what it once was thanks to public work's pipe replacement program.
The typical age of water pipes in Billings is less than 20 years old, but some, like those being replaced on 2nd Avenue North, are over 100. The program hopes to make these new pipes last up to 100 years and replace 1%, or five miles, per year. Older spots or those with a history of leaks are placed on the list first. The city invests more than $5 million a year for the program.
“Prevention costs much less than reaction, so if we can get ahead of it and do it before we have problems, it's definitely the better way to do it," said Meling.
The recent water breaks also brought up infrastructure concerns, especially for residents on Cook Avenue. A hump in the gravel road, or "belly," regularly runs water to the side where there is a lack of stormwater drains. Meling said that this road has been on the city's radar to pave for some time.
"This particular neighborhood did pass an interest survey. We are looking at paving the street," said Meling.
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The upgrades fall under Special Improvement Districts, or SIDs, where property owners pay for infrastructure improvements, typically spread out over 15 years. In this case, costs were estimated at $25,000 per property.
As Billings enters another high-demand summer, city crews, aging infrastructure, and fed-up residents all share the same hope that proactive planning will help slow these breaks down.
