Company Helps Water Utilities Identify Leaky Pipes

FlowNetworx, an affiliate of LB Water Service, Inc., is helping U.S. water utilities find and pinpoint leaks in their distribution networks within a foot of the source, without having to dig large trenches or disrupt service to customers.

The company offers leak detection, leak pinpointing and water-pressure control technologies and expertise to help utilities stem revenue loss, lower operating costs and improve their environmental stewardship.

“What county, municipal and private water authorities don’t know about the hidden leaks in their distribution systems is hurting them,” said Shawn Pulford, president and chief executive officer of FlowNetworx. “Lost water is costing utilities a lot of money. It’s affecting their ability to comply with increasing environmental regulations, it’s affecting the efficiency of their operations, and it’s harming their bottom lines. We can help them address all of those issues.”

By finding and fixing leaks soon after they occur, water authorities can reduce their demands on rivers, streams, and aquifers, helping to slow what studies have shown to be a gradual lowering of the nation’s water table over the last two decades. A 2015 analysis by USA Today and The Desert Sun based on U.S. Geological Survey data of more than 32,000 wells nationwide over a 20-year period showed that water levels declined in 64 percent of the wells in the database. The findings also showed that, even in parts of the country where rainfall and snowmelt have helped to offset pumping from aquifers, there have been significant declines, including in traditionally “wet” states such as New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Florida.

“When a utility is losing 20 or 30 percent of the water it’s processing – a statistic that, until recently, was considered to be acceptable in the waterworks industry, that utility is pumping, treating and transporting a lot of excess water just to be able to keep up with customer demand,” said John Brutz, general manager for FlowNetworx. “Over time, that can lead not only to huge operational inefficiencies but also significant environmental impacts.”

Brutz and his “leak team” have worked with multiple counties, municipalities and private water authorities to help the water providers identify the problem areas in their distribution systems. According to Brutz, utilities are aware that they’re losing water, but many have little idea as to exactly how much, or from where, until information gleaned from leak-detection and pinpointing technologies shows them.

“One Pennsylvania municipality we’re working with was shocked to discover it was losing 82 percent of the water it processed,” said Brutz.

Initially, FlowNetworx will focus its efforts primarily in states where its personnel originally began offering water loss management solutions under the LB Water brand, including Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., Ohio, New York, and New Jersey.

The company plans to later phase-in most of its offerings in other contracted markets, including Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.