02 Mar Fix A Leak Week is March 15-21, 2021
Posted at 14:19h
in Public News
Water is essential to life. As one of Tennessee’s largest water providers, we work very hard to deliver high quality and reliable drinking water, and to do so in a manner that is responsible and cost-effective – for us and for our customers. One way we do this is through regular, proactive leak detection. We have a team dedicated to finding leaks in our system. Each morning, our water loss analyst analyzes overnight flow rates to pinpoint areas that may be losing water and then sends a crew out to investigate by either placing leak loggers or listening for leaks.
This is important for many reasons:
Water is one of Earth’s greatest natural resources, and we need to be good stewards of it. Our area is fortunate to have ample water sources, but much of our world isn’t. In fact, only 1% of Earth’s water can be used for drinking water.
Treating, producing and delivering water isn’t free. Proactively finding and fixing leaks reduces water loss, which also cuts down on operating costs by reducing the amount of water we have to draw and treat.
It helps us better serve you. No one likes to be without water (us included!). The faster we can find leaks, the faster we can fix them.Finding and fixing leaks isn’t just important for us to do. Household leaks account for nearly 1 trillion gallons of water every year in the U.S., and they can cost a lot of money if left unfixed. A running commode can lose up to 200 gallons of water per day. Over the course of 30 days, that’s more than some households use in a single month.
Because of this, each March, we join the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Fix a Leak Week, an initiative aimed at curbing water loss across the country. There are many ways to conserve water and reduce water loss, but the three big ones are:
- Check – Check for leaks inside and outside of your home. Faucets, showerheads, sprinklers and commodes are some of the most common culprits of house hold leaks. Inspect any at you home for drips or running when it shouldn’t.
- Twist – Twist and tighten faucets, showerheads and pipe connections to stop drops. If tightening it doesn’t work, replace it with a WaterSense model.
- Replace – Replace old or broken fixtures with WaterSense models. WaterSense models are certified to use 20% less water and perform better than standard models.
For more tips, including a checklist for finding leaks around your house or how to request a toilet test kit, visit our Fix a Leak Week page.
