Possible water leak stumps council

There may or may not be a leak in the water pipe underneath a home located on S. 5th Street, but finding out for sure would be a conundrum.

Cheryl Bullock visited the council last week on behalf of her ex-husband, Kerry Littke, who owns the property but does not live there.

Littke has been asking for the water to be shut off for two years now, she said, but is told it cannot be done.

He does not, however, want to continue receiving bills for water that he has not been using.

“Evidently, there’s a water leak there,” said Bullock, telling the council that Littke has attempted to settle the bill but does not have an account to do so.

It’s not a small amount of water, either, she said – one month, 27,000 gallons were mysteriously consumed.

The reason the water cannot be shut off, explained Mayor Paul Brooks, is that the pipe was installed many years ago – estimated to be around 1976 – in a way that would never be approved in modern times.

The pipe passes the meter and goes under the Littke property, described Public Works Director Mac Erickson, before serving a garden hydrant and then a trailer belonging to Hugh Palmer.

Consequently, shutting off the Littke property would also shut off the Palmer property.

Because of the positioning of the pipe and meter, finding a leak would be difficult, said Brooks, telling Bullock that he cannot think of a way to do so that would not be expensive. In addition, he said, there is the question of who would be responsible for the cost: the leak would appear to be on the property owner’s side of the meter, and is therefore likely to be their responsibility.

“I don’t know what the heck to do with it to tell you the truth,” Brooks said, telling Bullock that this is one of those things that should never have been allowed to happen.

A further complication also turned out to potentially solve the mystery of the missing water.

According to Clerk-Treasurer Theresa Curren, the meter has been used as a “master meter” in the past. The amount charged to Littke is calculated by subtracting the total of the Palmer meter from the total on the master meter.

However, she said, this was not set up correctly on the system and therefore she was not aware it was the case. The numbers she provided to Bullock did not include the subtraction.

When you take that step, Curren said, only 100 to 200 gallons of water are “missing”. Brooks commented that this could be attributed to the inherent inaccuracy of water taps.

Considering the cost of doing so, neither side expressed willingness to look for the possible leak. However, at the suggestion of Council Member Randy Stevenson, Erickson was asked to investigate possible ways of installing a valve that would allow the city to shut off water to the property.