Dear Cave Creek Residents and Merchants,
Last month, I wrote about Cave Creek’s water source, the need for conservation and promised a follow up on my personal water conservation adventures. If you recall, I mentioned Town government will be taking steps to ensure adequate water for the future. Today, I’d like to emphasize the importance of water conservation in this task.
Let’s look at conservation in home water uses. All numbers are gallons per month. You can compare your water bill to these numbers.
The average Cave Creek residential account uses about 10,500 gallons. Homes without outside irrigation and swimming pools use at, or below, 4,000 gallons.
I have an average size pool of 420 square feet surface area using 3,000 gallons to keep it at level. I also have outside drip irrigation for xeriscape plants on a Rachio smart water timer.
I am currently using about 8,000 gallons, but my usage has been as high as 17,000 gallons! So, where did all of that extra water go?
It went into leaks! I am astounded at the number and variety of them. Detecting leaks in the drip irrigation system from normal degradation and rabbit chews takes constant vigilance. The big surprise is the swimming pool water leaks, which can easily double or triple a water bill.
I have a neighbor who had a water hose running into his pool and still the water level was dropping! The culprit was a plastic skimmer that had a huge hole in the bottom. The leak was undetectable without close inspection!
My sources of leaks are varied:
- Degraded grout around surface tile and decorative rocks.
- Underwater lights have an underwater conduit which contain the power wires to the light. My metal conduit had corroded causing a leak that was very hard to detect.
- A plastic water level control fixture had a hole in the bottom, like my neighbor’s leak.
- The bottom pool “drain” (it is the suction for the circulating pump) had a hole in the grout around the fixture.
All except the pool drain were fixed with my favorite pool leak repair material: underwater epoxy putty, available at hardware stores or online. It comes in different colors and is easy to mix and apply by hand. Smoothed to a pleasing finish makes it a high quality and permanent repair.
In conclusion, a high water bill always has a reason. Find that cause to save both water and money!
Mayor Robert Morris
Town of Cave Creek
Source: Cave Creek Corner
