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LOCK HAVEN -- The City of Lock Haven is continuing to work towards reducing the percentage of unaccounted-for water within its system.
This week, council heard from Public Works Superintendent Jared Gist about a new way public works is looking to account for the majority of water.
Gist said the city has about 20-22 percent of unaccounted-for water within its system, which serves residents within the city and Wayne and Castanea townships. Not all of that water is due to leaks, however.
He told council some of the unaccounted-for water is being used, but not paid for.
"Unfortunately, we're starting to find there are a lot of violations. We founded houses, just on a whim, that had bathrooms or other portions of the house tapped on before water meters," he said." We found new buildings that don't have water meters and have been getting free water for between two and four years."
Gist noted some residents may not even be aware there are portions of their plumbing that aren't being monitored.
He said public works intends to implement a rotating inspection of properties within its three service areas to try and keep better track of its water customers moving forward.
"Right now, this is going to coincide with sewer inspections. It's going to be real easy for the inspections for sale of properties within the city, because the same office that does the work orders for the sewer inspection can now also do the work orders for the water inspections," he said.
To prepare for this, Gist said he plans to send out letters to the township offices and share it with realtors in the area.
Gist continued, telling council he would like to begin rolling inspections.
"I'd like to break down the city, Wayne Township and Castanea Township into like five groups and then each year our guys will go out and do an inspection. We'll break it down even further so these people can have three months to get their inspection done," he explained.
The data collected every five years will be compiled into an inspection report to help prevent any properties from potentially tapping into the water system without a meter.
Mayor Joel Long offered positive comments to Gist and public works as it continues to find unaccounted-for water in the city's system.
"The unaccounted-for water is ridiculous and we tend to contribute that to leaks, which is some of it. But there's a lot out there that is just being used and not accounted for," Long said. "I applaud you for coming up with another way to find that unaccounted-for water and making sure we're doing it the right way."
Gist noted the department has been working diligently to find any leaks within the system.
"They've really been on top of the leaks," he said.