The discovery of an unseasonably large amount of water led the town’s Public Works crews to discover a massive water leak on King George Street earlier this month.
Once spotting the water, crews tested it, finding chlorine in it; a sure sign of a water leak, as the town’s treated water has chlorine added to it.
During the town’s Tuesday, June 7, committee meetings, the town’s superintendent of Public Works Nagi Rizk explained the situation to mayor and council.
Over a 24 hour period, Rizk estimates that 320,000 liters of water spilled out of the leak and into the Cowichan River.
“We were just feeding fish chlorinated water,” he said.
Once the leak was repaired, the town’s water usage went down about 15 per cent.
Although he suspects the water leak had only been happening for a short time, Rizk said that similar such water leaks could potentially go on for years without detection.
With the completion of the town’s water metering program, this concern will be nullified, as leaks will be more easily discovered.