With a significant portion of our system installed right after World War II, we are no stranger to main breaks — as a few businesses and homeowners witnessed in the past two months when we experienced three water main breaks.
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With a significant portion of our system installed right after World War II, we are no stranger to main breaks — as a few businesses and homeowners witnessed in the past two months when we experienced three water main breaks.
These unfortunate situations are a part of operating a water system, and we’re not alone.
The American Society of Civil Engineers’ grade for America’s drinking water infrastructure is a D. That comes as no surprise considering there are 240,000 water main breaks each year in the U.S wasting an estimated 2 trillion gallons of treated water. AWWA estimates $1 trillion dollars to maintain and expand service to meet demands in next 25 years.
The City of Torrington Water Dept. operates and maintains more than 52 miles of various sizes and composition of water distribution lines—enough to stretch from Torrington to almost Wheatland. These pipes that carry clean drinking water to your home vary in size, from ¾ inch to 1 inch-diameter service lines to a 24-inch-diameter pipe coming from the Water Treatment Plant.
Every main break is different, but fixing it safely and quickly are always a top priority — to minimize disruption to our customers who live, work or commute in the area, and to make sure we lose as little water as possible. Cracks and breaks occur based on the condition of the pipe and its surroundings — including age, pipe material, how corrosive the soil is, water flow, temperature and more.