The Facts: Impact of Pipe Failure

Any one break is a random occurrence. Frequent breaks are problematic, because:

• Residents don’t like shutdowns, boil orders, or street and driveway repairs.
• The service reputation of a municipality is compromised.
• Money spent on manpower and materials drains the budget.
• Crew safety requires extra training time and specialized equipment.
• Written notifications are burdensome to the administrators.
• A water system’s limits are tested unnecessarily.
• Water is wasted.

The Facts

In the United States:

• There are 237,000 water main breaks annually.
• Each day, 6 billion gallons of drinkable, usable water is lost to pipeline failure.
• At the current rate, it will take 300 years to replace water infrastructure.
• Over the next 20 years, it will cost at least $300 billion to replace pipelines.

In North America:

• North America has nearly 1,000 breaks per day.
• In Canada, it has been estimated that 80% of unaccounted water is due to breaks.
• Canadian research teams have stated that the frequency of main breaks is the key indicator of a system’s physical integrity.

Across the Globe:

• Two-thirds of the world is water; but less than 1% is drinkable.
• One in five people lack access to safe drinking water.
• More than 2.2 million people, mostly in developing countries, die each year from diseases associated with poor water and sanitary conditions.

Critical Issues:

• Destructive forces attack water systems creating stress and increasing the risk of pipe failure.
• Researchers agree that approximately 60% of all contamination in public water systems occurs during the repair of a main break.
• Negative pressures invite intrusions of contaminants.
• Nearly all breaks show evidence of progressive failure, or signs of long-term wear and tear.

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