APUA Not Ignoring Complaints About Broken Mains

The APUA Water Business Chief elaborates on the procedures for addressing reports of damaged water mains, following public complaints about the perceived delay in resolving these matters.

Ian Lewis sincerely apologized to his department for the inconvenience caused.

He clarified that their approach to handling these reports resembles the triage process observed in hospitals.

“Every single day, the technicians look at what reports they have in terms of leaks. There are six crews within the Water Business Unit that address leaks on a daily basis”.

He said if there is a mainline breakage of 15 or 10 inches, that becomes a priority.

“If someone reports that their meter got damaged and their water is leaking, that goes down the list. We would probably put two crews on that large main, and the others will address similar situations,” he said.

According to Lewis, as the diameter of the pipe increases, a greater amount of water is lost, thus, prioritizing major tasks takes on added significance.