Delivering safe and clean drinking water to tens of thousands of people isn’t exactly a 9 to 5 job.
Clark Public Utilities water system technicians work around the clock to ensure the water flows fresh and uninterrupted to every customer on the line. These employees know the system from well to faucet and everything in between. When there’s trouble, they’re the first to respond. When things are calm, they preserve the infrastructure and ensure the water tastes great.
Technicians fill many roles at the water utility. When they’re working as servicemen, they’re on the front lines of the water system. If there’s an issue in the middle of the day or the middle of the night, they’ll respond.
“As a serviceman, you’re the first eyes of an attack,” said Oscar Maciel, water operations manager at Clark Public Utilities. “You have to do a lot of detective work when responding to a call. You have to figure out if the leak is on the customer’s side of the meter or on ours. If it’s on our side, we’ll make a report for a crew to come out and get to work.”
If the issue is on the customer’s side of the meter, servicemen will often try to help identify where the problem is and explain how it can be fixed, either by them or a plumber.
“We get those customers who call because of a higher than normal bill but they don’t want us to come out because they think it’ll be too much trouble for us or they feel like they’re being an inconvenience. But we make sure to tell them it’s part of our commitment to them,” said Sarah Robinson, office manager for the water utility. “We know that hiring a plumber is expensive. So if it’ll save a customer potentially hundreds of dollars to identify which side of the meter the leak is, then we’re happy to do it.”
When the utility water technicians replaced customers’ mechanical water meters with electric ones in 2017, more people started calling about higher than normal water bills. Because the new meters are much more accurate than their predecessors, they can record even the smallest leak on the customer’s side. But that sensitivity helps utility employees determine the root of the problem.
“We can help them figure out if it’s a toilet running somewhere in the house or even if the sprinkler system is kicking on in the middle of the night,” Maciel said. “That’s valuable information to have when a technician goes out to help.”
Unlike the electric utility, which sees its activity peak in winter (colloquially known as “storm season”), summer is the busiest time of year for the water utility. When summer hits customers open up the tap. To meet demand, all of the utility’s wells and pressure boosters are brought online. That’s also when the majority of leak repairs happen.
“The water mains become like living organisms,” Maciel said. “They expand and contract as the water pressure rises and falls. When that happens, leaks begin to appear within the system and that part of our work begins.”
If they’re not chasing leaks, water technicians are performing other vital roles in the water utility. They service and replace pumps, install new meters, perform water quality inspections and flush water lines to ensure the water stays fresh.
“That’s often what people find most surprising about water technicians — the breadth and depth of the jobs they perform,” Robinson said. “Their knowledge and expertise they possess isn’t something you see in most professions.”
Energy Adviser is written by Clark Public Utilities. Send questions to ecod@clarkpud.com or to Energy Adviser, c/o Clark Public Utilities, P.O. Box 8900, Vancouver, WA 98688.
