Water service investigator Scotty Sugiyama placed a microphone on a water meter in Royal Kunia last week and heard the telltale hiss of a leaking underground pipe through his headphones as the never-ending war on broken water mains and dripping pipes continues across the island this hot summer.
If the leaking pipe in the 20-year-old subdivision had gone undetected, it’s possible that enough pressure could have built up underground to cause an explosion. That could have broken a larger water main and sent chunks of asphalt and roadway flying through the neighborhood, Sugiyama said.
Resident Racquel Agpaoa watched the Honolulu Board of Water Supply’s four-member Leak Detection Team at work. She said she appreciates their efforts to track down leaking pipes and meters to prevent a bigger mess that could have temporarily disrupted life in this quiet neighborhood.
"We have a lot of problems with leaks here," Agpaoa said.
The water agency and an untold number of Oahu drivers suffered through 305 water main breaks in the fiscal year that just ended.
It was the lowest number of water main breaks in four years.
Sugiyama and his fellow investigators, Russell Choo, Ed Takaesu and Steve Omiya, head out each day, their long-term task to scour every single street on Oahu and hunt down leaking pipes and meters.
"We look at every single pipe," Takaesu said.
With 1,700 to 1,800 miles of freshwater pipes across the island to inspect, "it’s a tedious process," he said.
While the water agency continues to repair and upgrade its pipe system, the city’s Department of Environmental Services has an estimated 108 projects under way focused on Oahu’s sewage treatment plants, pump stations and collection system.
Six major sewer projects this month have the potential to affect traffic and Oahu drivers:
» Installation of a new sewer line along Ala Moana Boulevard between Atkinson Drive and Ala Wai Canal and along Ala Wai Boulevard between Kalakaua Avenue to the dead end of Ala Wai Boulevard.
» Installation of a new sewer line along Farrington Highway between Waipahu Depot Street and Hanawai Circle, and along Waipahu Depot Street between Farrington Highway and Waipahu Street.
» Sewer rehabilitation work in the Kamehameha Heights area on various streets within the area bordered by North School Street, Kokea Street, Kamalii Street, Aulii Street, Ilima Drive, Makanani Drive and Kapalama Drive.
» Installation of a new sewer line along Date Street between Pumehana and Lukepane streets.
» Sewer rehabilitation work on various streets bordered by Bertram Street, Kaminaka Drive, St. Louis Drive and Dole Street.
» Sewer rehabilitation work along Kuhio Avenue between Kuamoo Street and Kaiulani Avenue.
Much of the blame for Oahu’s fragile pipes rests with the age of the system.
More than 47 percent of water pipelines are more than 40 years old. More than 15 percent of the pipelines are more than 70 years old.
Another seven miles of pipe are about a century old, board spokesman Kurt Tsue said.
BUT EVEN relatively new subdivisions, such as Royal Kunia, have leaking pipes regularly because of decades of pesticide use from the old plantation era that can ruin modern-day, freshwater PVC, Takaesu said.
When leaks develop in a pipe holding more than 60 pounds of pressure per square inch, "the road can explode," Sugiyama said. "We’d have to shut down the whole street."
For neighbors connected to a leaking water meter or pipe, the hassles can be severe, Sugiyama said.
"It’s one thing to not have electricity, because you can make do," Sugiyama said. "But you don’t know what it’s like to not have water until you don’t have water. There’s no way you can substitute for not having water."
But the tedious and methodical work of the agency’s 8-year-old leak detection team helps prevent disruptive breaks, Tsue said.
Their success at finding hidden leaks each year saves an estimated 1.4 million gallons of water per day, or about 506 million gallons per year, Tsue said.
The ability to spot leaks early and prevent bigger problems later on has generated enough interest among organizations that maintain their own water systems on Oahu that the board is holding a leak detection workshop Thursday for Laie Water Systems, Marine Corps Base Hawaii, the Navy, the Army and the state Department of Transportation.
The organizations heard about the board’s success in catching leaks early, Tsue said. So agency officials want "to educate these agencies so they can start up their own program and hopefully save water and prevent emergency breaks within their water systems," he said.
