Sudbury has old water pipes with leakage rates as high as 47%

A pilot project in Sudbury using high-tech caps on water hydrants detected this crack in an underground cast iron pipe installed in 1945. (Supplied)

Greater Sudbury has the oldest system of underground water pipes among similar cities in Canada, according to a new report headed to a city committee next week.

While overall leakage rates are about average in Sudbury, in the Levack area it was 47 per cent, meaning almost half of the drinking water processed in the area was being lost.

More recently, a very large leak was uncovered in the Levack system that was largely responsible for the problem.

The report, headed to the operations committee Jan. 16, was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s part of an overall strategy to reduce water loss in the pipes in the city, which are 56 years old on average and are subject to widespread cracking.

Working on the problem is a task force with a five-year mandate to come up with ways to reduce the amount of clean water lost to leaky pipes.

The task force’s goal is to find strategies to get the rate down to an average of 15 per cent. Other areas of Greater Sudbury with high water loss rates include 28 per cent in parts of the old City of Sudbury, 22 per cent in Falconbridge and 20 per cent in the Naughton area.

“There are many reasons why a water distribution system may experience leaks,” the report said.

“Leaks may be a result of aging infrastructure, corrosion, water hammer/pressure surges, frost, ground and soil movement, poor design or inspection, inadequate construction practices, defective or improper valves, fittings, or joints, vibration from road traffic or road rehabilitation, or earthquakes.”

The key to combating leaks is to find them, the report said, and technology is making it easier. One of the main ways is using acoustic devices so an operator can either hear the water leaking, or see it using a signal meter.

Other technology is built into water metres that measures how much water passes through the system compared to how much is pumped from water stations.

“The difference is an indicator of the total losses in the system including leakage in real time,” the report said.

In addition to providing information to the city, the high-tech water meters can also tell customers real-time information about their water usage. For example if there’s a sudden spike in water consumption, customers could it see it immediately.

“Residents who have had their (water meter) upgrade completed will have access to this modern web portal where they can find detailed information about their household water use, track and compare their water usage over time, as well as be alerted to possible leaks via a continuous flow notification,” the report said. See the full report here.