By Katie Northcott, News Director
NOTE: This story has been updated to include an update from Hillsville Utility District.
Around 12:15 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 9, Randal Braker, General Manager at Duck River Utility Commission (DRUC), said that DRUC is currently repairing a valve leak on a main water transmission line. The repair will take about four hours.
Braker has asked that DRUC customers make extra conservation efforts during the repair. DRUC cannot generate more water storage during the repair and is operating off of current water storage, which was at 60% capacity this morning.
Braker encourages customers not to panic as the DRUC will resume normal operations once the repair is finished but asks for cooperation in conserving water as the repair is being made.
Braker said the valve has been leaking for about a week, causing water loss of about 100,000 gallons per day. At the time the leak was noticed, city and county officials in the DRUC service area were notified that water conservation efforts were necessary as DRUC could not shut down operations to repair the main transmission line due to above average water usage.
DRUC saw around 1,000,000 gallons per day higher water usage than normal after the cold snap in January. The valve leak contributed about 100,000 gallons of water loss per day. The additional water usage is likely due to breaks in city water lines and residential water lines that occurred as a result of the cold weather.
Due to the higher-than-usual water usage, DRUC was unable to generate enough water storage to shut down for the valve repair. After a week of waiting for water line repairs and conservation efforts to allow DRUC to generate more water storage, Braker decided he couldn’t risk the valve leak getting worse or eventually bursting and decided they would have to do the repairs while at 60% storage capacity. The amount of water in storage had improved over the weekend.
Braker believes the remaining water leaks are mainly in residential water lines as crews have almost finished identifying and repairing leaks in city water lines. Tullahoma Utility Authority has encouraged customers to report things like standing water, a soggy area, or water running where it shouldn’t be, which may indicate a leak.
Customers of Hillsville Utility District may have received the text pictured below. The text reads, “STOP ALL WATER USE IMMEDIATELY unless absolutely necessary. Duck River Utility has just shut off water supply to repair the major leak. Continued use will drain the system. We will alert you when repairs are complete.”
The text was NOT meant to imply that any residence’s water supply had been cut off. Water should be available to Hillsville customers; however, Hillsville is asking customers to conserve water due to the above describe valve repair.
