Johnnie St. Vrain: Finding the source of the water on South Hover Street in Longmont

Hi Johnnie: I wonder why there is always water on Hover Street right in front of The Home Depot. I guess there is a sprinkler leak, but this has been going on for a few years now. With all the focus on water conservation, this sure seems to be something that could be easily fixed. Thanks. — David

Hi David: Sometimes by the time a reader sees my answer in print, the problem they presented has been solved. Such is the case with what I would call “Little Hover Creek.” Its source has been shut off, thanks to your query.

The evening after I received your email, I swung by The Home Depot parking lot — turning from Hover Street onto Lykins Gulch Road, through the puddle that I’ve driven through probably 50 times without ever noticing before. To trace the source, I headed to the curb near Discount Tire and followed the water upstream.

The sprinklers along the north side of Lykins Gulch were operating. Water was running over the sidewalk and along the curb toward Hover Street, but that didn’t explain the water sitting on the south, uphill side of the intersection of Lykins Gulch and Hover. The source of that pool was water running along the south curb, beginning at the sidewalk along the northeast entrance to Circle K.

The spring was rising from cracks in the sidewalk, next to a landscaped strip that had sprinkler heads that were not operating. I estimated the flow was the equivalent of a wide-open kitchen faucet. It appeared your guess was correct.

Tracking the source was easy. Finding who was responsible for the water was not easy; thus the delay in my answer to you.

When I stopped by Circle K later in the week, the new manager was there. He had been unaware of the leak until I showed him. However, he was not sure if the water was Circle K’s or the city’s.

So I checked with the city. I heard back from Nick Ehrlich, Utility Operations & Maintenance manager with the Water & Waste Department, who said that given where the water was surfacing, it would take some investigation to determine the source.

“Such circumstances are not uncommon, especially in scenarios where intersections of greenways and private infrastructure are involved.”

Ehrlich said he had looked at meter data in the area and was not able to determine if the leak was metered water or not, “as there are some meters that would have somewhat consistent usage patterns, such as the carwash.”

He noted the irrigation meter that services the greenway did not have continuous usage. “In instances where a leak originates upstream of a meter, our only way of becoming aware of water leaks is through customer interaction and notification.”

By the way, if you see another water leak, alert the city at serviceworks.longmontcolorado.gov/.

When I dropped by Circle K late last week, I noticed that Little Hover Creek had dried up. The store manager said he understood that a broken sprinkler valve was the source of the leak.

“City staff assisted with identifying the leak, which was on the privately owned irrigation system for Circle K,” city spokeswoman Rachel Moyer said later. “The city did not fix the leak, and Circle K staff was advised that the leak repair is their responsibility.”

David, 1.1 gallons per minute is 1,584 gallons per day, 11,088 gallons per week and about 47,500 gallons per month. Thanks to your observation, that much water is no longer running down the curb.

Dear Readers: A uniquely Longmont celestial event happens this coming Saturday, as the sun sets over Longs Peak as seen from the city. Read more about it at https://www.timescall.com/2017/08/18/johnnie-st-vrain-when-the-sun-sets-on-longs-peak-2/.

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