SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, Pa. — The Kline Township Municipal Authority now using space technology to find leaks in its water system.
Aaron Debalko, the authority's general manager, says the municipal authority was losing at least 250,000 gallons of water a day in recent years because of leakages.
“We were at 64 percent lost water. That means 64 percent of the water we produce, that we pump out of the ground, treat in our well houses, and ship to the customers, never make it to the customers,” he explained.
“That for us is a whole tank for one of our systems, so it's a huge waste. It's not cost-effective at all, and that's when we have to look at raising rates when our usage is going up like that,” added Michael Koshmieder, water sewer operator.
But not anymore.
The Kline Township Municipal Authority partnered with Asterra and tested out the company's satellite technology last year. They found that they overlooked more than a dozen problematic leaks.
“The area that we live in, you know, we're in the mining area. There are areas where the water leaking will go into the mines and never surface,” Debalko said.
The water authority is one of the first to use the same satellites used to find water on Mars to locate leaks in their water systems.
They've ended up cutting costs and resources, preventing rate hikes for their customers.
“Three weeks after the scan, we had our water production was at 200,000 gallons of water savings a day, and that's just with the first couple that we started to pick off. It was clear that they were substantial leaks as we started hitting all of them,” said Debalko.
After the success of the first satellite scan, the Kline Township Municipal Authority plans to have another one this spring.
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