Carrollton Asks Residents To Invest In Water
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CARROLLTON (CBSDFW.COM) - The Value of Water Coalition is partnering with cities across the United States to promote a national campaign highlighting an essential resource: water.
The Imagine A Day Without Water campaign is aimed at raising awareness of and building public support for investment in water.
"The truth is, of course, we can't go a day without water," said Radhika Fox, Director of the Value of Water Coalition. "For homes, that would mean no water to take a shower, make coffee, clean, do laundry, or flush the toilet. For businesses from restaurants to manufacturing plants, water is essential to daily operations. During Imagine a Day Without Water, we're speaking with one voice across the nation about how water is essential, invaluable, and needs investment."
Many people take water service for granted. Clean, safe, reliable, and affordable water comes out of the tap and flows down the drain without a second thought. The massive infrastructure, much of it underground, that brings water to homes and businesses, takes it away, and treats it, is under pressure 24-hours a day, seven days a week. The system is in a constant state of aging.
The City of Carrollton Public Works department has 56 employees dedicated to maintaining its water system every day.
"We have over 500 miles of water pipeline with nearly 49,000 water connections that are continuously monitored, tested, repaired or replaced throughout the City of Carrollton," said Brian Little, Water Utilities Manager. "It is a massive undertaking that requires our employees to pass certification tests, maintain State licenses, and participate in continuing education."
A water main breaks somewhere in the U.S. every two minutes.
Most pipes have an average life expectancy of 50 years, but in many major cities, water pipes are more than 100 years old.
Communities cannot afford to go a day without water if those systems reach their breaking points.
For more than 30 years, the Public Works department has met its goal of replacing 14,000 feet of water line every year using in-house crews. Tom Geier, Capital Improvement Projects Manager for the city says, "We continuously monitor all of the infrastructure components to ensure routine maintenance is done in a timely manner to avoid the need for costly replacement of equipment and facilities."
Carrollton residents can help protect the components of our water system by conserving water, especially when it comes to landscape irrigation.
Through the city's Save Water by the Yard program, free irrigation inspections are available each year from April 1 through September 31. The program has been so popular this summer that it has been extended until November 30 of this year. If interested in this service, residents can call 972-466-3000 for more information or to make an appointment for an inspection.
If interested in this service, residents can call 972-466-3000 for more information or to make an appointment for an inspection.
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