By Susan Motander
Last week the Monrovia City Council received a report on water leaks in the city from Tina Cherry, the Acting Director of Public Services. At the Feb. 3 meeting of the council, Member Tom Adams requested that the approval of payment for the repairs done on a leaking water main on Canyon Boulevard be removed from the consent calendar. While the payment was approved, Adams requested a report on such leaks over the previous years.
Cherry reported that in 2014 there had been 29 water main leaks while in 2012 there had been only 19. This is an almost 50% increase. Cherry presented a chart showing the location of the various leaks and pointed out that the majority of the leaks were along Canyon and Linwood Avenue.
The report also included a summary of the hydrant leaks, service leaks (those from the main to a property line, and customer leaks (those from the property line to the residence or business). Hydrant leaks had increased from 29 to 47 in two years and service leaks were up from 60 to 77 in the same time period. In contrast, in 2012 there were 41 customer leaks and only 18 in 2014, more than a 50% decrease.
The report covered only water main leaks and not problems with the sewer lines. Asked why, Cherry explained that the request had been made only for information on the water main leaks.