SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Water System says this summer might set a record for water main breaks.
They say high heat and the continuing drought just might be a one-two punch for aging pipes, so they’ve been preparing to fight back with a smarter pipes program.
At a morning show and tell event where the temperature was reaching for 90 degrees, the most popular display belonged to the people demonstrating a powerful, portable air conditioning unit.
Displaying pictures of workers in trenches, Ryan Taylor of SAWS said “We work in trenches, sometimes up to 15 feet deep. There's no air circulation. It can get as hot as 120 degrees.”
Taylor said welding and pipe cutting jobs only add to the misery for workers who are working around the clock on big projects.
“It's very, very hot!” Taylor said, adding that with the possibility of heat related illness, if there wasn’t relief on site, it could quickly turn into a matter of life or death.
“Our number one resource at SAWS is our employees and this is a facility that helps with their rest and recovery,” Taylor said, adding “Today we are showcasing our HVAC system, where we can actually move air into the hole and help keep our employees cool in the summer heat.”
SAWS Construction Manager Lance Rothe said a technology improvement for smaller supply lines, is the switch to heavy plastic HDPE pipe, which is a long lasting improvement.
Rothe said “With HDPE we're fusing it and so it's a completely leak free joint that's as strong as the pipe itself.”
At private homes their goal is to get customers back online as fast as possible whenever a leak causes a problem.
The SAWS award winning pipe tapping team, that competes with water suppliers from across the country, demonstrated how team work can lead to fast relief.
Team leader Lupe Paredes said “These skills here are important to homeowners because this is the stuff we do every day in the field.”
There are leak detection teams too, trying to get ahead of big breaks to keep water flowing to two million customers, a job they say never stops.
“We need to make sure we're pushing water and so we do have to work that 24 hour rotation,” Taylor said.
At the SAWS website they have published advice about how you can help protect your property and save money while the temperatures continue to bake.
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