Fire Hydrants.....

[Riv3404]

We just completed test all of our hydrants in our district and our results are disappointing. Its been 7 years since the last test and we have zero blue hydrants and a lot of orange. This is my question. Is their any mandate for the water department to maintenance/fix broken hydrants and install bigger mains or fix water pressure?

[DeputyMarshal]

Who owns the hydrants and what it their relationship to the FD?

They may of may not be under any specific external maintenance obligations.

Did the hydrants have better flow 7 years ago? If so, what has changed since then? Flow capacity isn't something that changes without a good reason.

[nmfire]

Considering pipes don't shrink, either they are pumping less water, or the community is using more water. Considering the time frame, I would be willing to bet on the latter. Can I venture a guess that the population has grown quite a bit in the last 7 years?

Also, what time of day were you doing this test compared to 7 years ago?

[AngelJo008]

It also depends on what the original pipes are made of. Are the hydrants near trees of any sort? My experience with sewage and mains running near trees is that often times they were originally clay tiles and small fine roots have grown into the lines thus causing a shortage of free flowing water.

[Riv3404]

The Relationship is a Fire Protection District and a Village Public Works. Two separate government entities and the village public works owns the hydrants.

The great thing about this is that the hydrant information has been lost from 7 years ago...

Hydrants were flown from 8am to 9 pm weekdays starting two weeks prior and ending this week. Town has grown, but its not a question of increase or decrease of flow, but a question of maintenance and installation of new.

[nmfire]

What maintenance problem do you believe is causing all of your hydrants to have less flow than you think you had 7 years ago? I'm saying this because you can't just go accusing them of causing a problem without evidence there is even a problem.

[ftfdverbenec770]

having fire codes helps on new construction areas.

[Riv3404]

What maintenance problem do you believe is causing all of your hydrants to have less flow than you think you had 7 years ago? I'm saying this because you can't just go accusing them of causing a problem without evidence there is even a problem.

Well I am not specifically talking about lower pressure than 7 years ago. Just hydrants that are not functional and water mains that are like 4 inch mains.

And I am not saying that we are having problems with the water department or public works they are a great resource I was just seeing if there was any codes or ordinances that would be helpful.

[trainer]

You have a couple of options here, none can force the city to change. Replacing the small mains can get very exspensive, maybe add one to make a loop. You can use your ISO rating as an insentive since water supply is 40% of the total. A better rating can save the homeowners money. And now there seems to be a trend to sue in casses of bad/poor/undersized hydrants. This should make the city fathers take notice.

[Riv3404]

You have a couple of options here, none can force the city to change. Replacing the small mains can get very exspensive, maybe add one to make a loop. You can use your ISO rating as an insentive since water supply is 40% of the total. A better rating can save the homeowners money. And now there seems to be a trend to sue in casses of bad/poor/undersized hydrants. This should make the city fathers take notice.


Thanks for your reply. Seems like suing would be a last resort considering the on going work the city and fpds usually have together.

[jboczek]

When "city water" was put into our town and the next one north about 30 years ago, they used 3" & 4" mains because Farmers Home Administration funded most of it and they were doing "drinking water" and not fire water. So now there's 400 gpm available on the best hydrants and less on dead ends and out of town hydrants. They all work and the villages maintain them but that's all the water we'll ever get because, like trainer said, it's too expensive to replace them now. We have tanker box cards to take care of water for these areas and make the best out of a bad situation. As far as I know, there's no law that says there has to be so much fire water available in a certain area. It's good to make ISO happy, but water can be expensive to put in. Good luck.

[trainer]

Just a little misunderstanding.
No you won't sue the water dept, a homeowner with a fire loss might. If they lost a house, and find out poor water supply due to lack of maintance, my bet is they sue. And BTW water pipes do shrink, mineral and rust buildup inside the pipes.