[HollyMutual-Announce] Leak update

[Holly Mutual Water Company]

All:

(I am sorry about sending this so late - I had sent the following out 
earlier this evening, but unfortunately to the wrong email address)

Today's digging for the leak on Piedmont was inconclusive. The Holly 
Mutual pipeline is close to Denver Water's pipeline in this area, and 
Denver Water surrounds theirs with a large quantity of gravel. This 
allows substantial space for leaking water to aggregate, making leak 
isolation more difficult. About all that was proved today is we have a 
leak. We pretty much had come to that conclusion before.

This is further complicated by the fact that the leak may be underneath 
Piedmont, and with the recent chip and seal refurbishment of the 
street, Cherry Hills Village is very concerned with the prospect of 
closing Piedmont and ripping it up in a long diagonal. This also could 
be very costly for Holly Mutual to repair.

CWW has contacted a leak detection company that employs a different 
technique than the one that failed earlier this spring. Air would be 
pumped into the pipeline, which makes a more detectable sound than 
water. The major problem with this is we will likely have to wait until 
next week for any tests to be performed.

In view of the increasingly hot weather and the inability of Holly 
Mutual to provide water for much of this season, we have decided to 
proceed with the delicate plan of running the Holly Mutual distribution 
system on its normal 'hot weather' schedule (midnight to 10 am), 
starting tonight. We are hoping the water leak will not prove too 
excessive on this schedule, as the original leak detection occurred 
when we were running the distribution 24 hours a day. We will monitor 
the leak while the system is active, and make a decision tomorrow 
whether we can continue this plan until we are ready for the leak 
detection tests. However if the leak proves unmanageable, we will have 
no choice but to cease operations until the repairs can be made.

In the meantime, please respect your official watering days. This is 
the only way there will be enough water pressure for everyone to 
irrigate on their days.

Thanks,
Mark Derbyshire