The Water and Sewer Division employs more than 100 full time employees dedicated to providing routine and emergency maintenance to the City's water distribution and wastewater collection systems. Typical tasks include the inspection, cleaning and repairing of water and sewer main trunk lines. The Water and Sewer Division also operates and maintains fire hydrants and water valves, as well as installing and repairing water and sewer service connections.
The distribution system delivers treated water from the water treatment facilities via 1,200 miles of water lines to approximately 80,000 connections in Durham. These homes, businesses and institutional customers rely on staff to maintain both the quality of the water and the integrity of the lines/pipes and connections. Flushing is one mechanism used to move water quickly through the lines for a number of reasons. In areas where there are dead-end pipes or areas of low water use, small particles may settle on the bottom of the pipes. Over time, these deposits can be a source of color, odor and taste problems and may also become stirred up due to a water line break. To minimize these issues, when crews respond to a water line break and complete the repairs, hydrants in the area are left flowing for 24 to 48 hours (usually) to clear the water flowing into customers’ taps.
Periodically, staff conducts planned flushing to address these issues. See the Flushing FAQs to learn more about this practice.
The Meter Maintenance work group conducts meter reading and provides routine and emergency response to water meter problems, including leaks, unusual consumption rates and water pressure concerns. One major undertaking of the Meter Maintenance work group is oversight of the Automated Meter Reading project.
The City kicked off the water meter replacement project utilizing automated meter reading (AMR) technology in late June 2010. Phase 1 of the project is underway and affects residential and small commercial customers mostly north of Interstate 85. See the map of Phase 1 and Phase 2. The project will eventually replace every water meter in the city. Phase 3 and Phase 4 will begin later in 2011.
AMR includes automatic collection of consumption, diagnostic, and status data from a water meter and transfer of data to a central database for billing, troubleshooting, and analyzing. Durham’s AMR system will employ a mobile system for meter reading. Each meter will include a small battery-powered radio unit; water meter readers will have a receiver in their vehicles and as they drive by meter locations, the receiver will collect meter readings transmitted by the individual meters. In Phase 1 of the project, 20,000 meters are scheduled for replacement. As more automated meters are installed, the City anticipates moving to monthly meter reading and monthly billing.
The new water meters are Neptune E-coder meters and are being installed by Vanguard Utility Services, an industry leader in the installation of residential and commercial meters. For Durham, Vanguard will provide services including removing and cataloging old meters and installing and calibrating the new meters. Durham crews will be working ahead of the Vanguard employees to evaluate meter connections and raise services as necessary to ensure that the radio signal system will work.
The benefits of an automated meter reading system include convenience for both the City and the customer. With AMR, the meter readers can collect meter readings much quicker and more safely by simply driving by meter locations. The new meters will assist customers in detecting leaks and will assist utility staff in detecting malfunctioning or tampered meters. Additionally, this timely information, coupled with analysis, can help both utility staff and customers better manage the City’s potable water usage. As we transition to full implementation of AMR, no positions will be eliminated; staff will be reassigned to new responsibilities within the unit and department.
Wastewater leaving all residential and non-residential establishments in the City’s service area is collected in the approximately 1,100 miles of sewer lines and is delivered to wastewater treatment facilities for treatment prior to discharge back into the environment. One important Water and Sewer Maintenance Division mission is the cleaning program required by the State. The Collections System Permit, issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources/Division of Water Quality, mandates the implementation of a program to clean at least 10 percent of the city's sewer lines annually. This is an integral part of maintaining the City’s sewer infrastructure to reduce or mitigate the occurrence of sewer system overflows. Cleaning prevents major blockages caused by foreign objects, solidified calcite, root growth, fats, oils and grease (FOG) and various other forms of debris. Many municipalities, including the City of Durham, use high-pressure water pumps and hoses combined with various flushing head attachments to clean debris. This allows technicians to "pressure wash" the walls as the hose is pulled through the pipe. The water pulls the suspended debris back to the manhole where it can be vacuumed or removed by hand.
Because this process can cause the household toilet to splash water onto the surrounding walls and floor in the bathroom, customers are encouraged to close all toilet lids routinely. A further action would be to cover the toilet bowl with an old towel and then place the toilet seat and lid down to hold the towel in place. City staff is developing notification procedures for routine system cleaning so that customers can prepare for and potentially minimize issues caused by the high pressure flushing process. Customers may call Water and Sewer Maintenance at 560-4344 for further information and updates.
For information about the collection system and cleaning activities, view the Annual Sewer System Report.
The Water and Sewer Maintenance office is located at 1100 Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway. For information, call the Water and Sewer Maintenance Division at 560-4344, Monday through Friday between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.
After hours emergency phone number: (919) 560-4344
Superintendent: Tom Lucas (919) 560-4344
Assistant Superintendent: Steve Miller (919) 560-4344
Fax: (919) 560-4340
Email: WSMinfo@durhamnc.gov