Water Distribution & Maintenance

The City of Allen’s water distribution system is designed to ensure each customer has reliable and safe drinking water. The distribution system was designed based on the need for the City to meet maximum water demands and ensure refill of the elevated storage tank in a timely manner. There is a total of 22 full time staff assigned to ensuring safe drinking water is delivered to Allen customers. This includes water storage and pumping operations, water line maintenance and leak detection initiatives, and water quality.

Water Storage and Pumping Operations

Pump Station Operations

The City of Allen currently operates three pump stations: Stacy Road Pump Station, Custer Road Pump Station and Lucas Pump Station. Stacy and Custer Road Pump Stations are the primary source of water pumping capacity. Currently, the Lucas site is used to provide a redundancy in the City’s water source, but will be taken out of service soon or used as emergency back up.

This City’s the maximum pumping capacity is 27 million gallons per day, which meets the highest level of demand.

The City of Allen operates a SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system to monitor water levels in storage facilities, to ensure proper water pressure and to operate pumps and valves that supply water to storage facilities.

Water Storage

Ground Storage
The City of Allen currently has 26 million gallons of ground storage capacity. The recent completion of a second 6 million gallon ground storage tank located at the Custer Road pump station increased our water storage capacity to a level that takes the City to build out. The combination of ground storage capacity from the facilities located at Stacy Road, Custer Road, and Lucas, provides flexibility with maintenance as well as provides additional protection in the event of an interruption in water supply.

 

Elevated Storage
The City of Allen has 7.5 million gallons of elevated storage tank capacity with a total of five elevated water towers. Elevated water storage tanks serve as a water pressure regulator and can serve as a source of supply when the system demand exceeds the ability to provide water by pumping alone.

The recent completion of the Prestige Circle 2 million gallon elevated water tower brought the city closer to the 9 million gallon build-out capacity. In 2008, construction will take place on the Hillside water tower, which will replace the existing .5 million gallon tank with a newly constructed 2 million gallon tank at the same location. This will be similar to the recently completed elevated tank on Prestige Circle, at the same height as the existing 500,000 gallon tank at Hillside Park.

 

 

 

Public Education & Outreach

At times, the Water and Sewer Division are asked to lead field trips through the pump station to learn about Allen's water distribution system. Demonstrations of a model water tower, leak detection camera and vactor truck were well received. The visitors also watched a video of a water tower inspection. Students participated in a recycling demonstration and “The Incredible Journey” activity, which takes students through the water cycle. The field trip began and ended with a drought update and water conservation tips. Program evaluations given to adult sponsors of the field trip indicated that the group had a great time and were surprised by some of the new things they learned.

Water Line Maintenance

The City of Allen conducts regular preventative maintenance to over 320 miles of water distribution lines to ensure uninterrupted, quality water supply. This includes flushing water mains, servicing valves and fire hydrants on a regular schedule, and conducting state-of-the-art leak detection and prevention.

Water Line Repairs

The Water and Sewer Division staff is ready to respond to water line repairs 24 hours a day. Despite proactive efforts to maintain the system, unexpected line breaks may sometimes occur. Some of the common causes of these breaks include extreme weather and drought conditions, which affect the water lines. Shifting ground may cause the water lines to break or leak. Other line breaks may be as a result of construction contractors accidentally hitting water lines.

When breaks occur, it is our top priority to minimize the impact to the customers and restore the line as quickly as possible. The average time to complete a repair is 3 hours.

Leak Detection Program

In addition to regular water line maintenance, the water division takes preventive maintenance a step further. The City of Allen began a formal leak detection program in 2004, which has proven to be one of the most valuable initiatives to proactively find water system leaks. The department uses high-tech water leak detection equipment to systematically test the water system infrastructure. The system includes a computerized leak detection monitor and a current generation ground listening system to quickly find the specific location of underground leaks. The department regularly tests the water lines throughout the City to reduce water loss and locate and repair hidden and unknown leaks to avoid major water line failures. These proactive efforts contribute to the City’s success in surpassing the 12% state standard for water system loss with Allen maintaining only a 6% water loss.

Report A Water Leak

If you notice standing water, and you suspect a water leak, please contact the City of Allen to report the leak. The Stacy Road Pump Station operates 24 hours a day and will respond to all calls for service. The emergency number is 214.509.4530. Report a water leak

Water Quality

The City's supply of drinking water comes from the North Texas Municipal Water District headquartered in Wylie, Texas. The main water supply for the district is Lake Lavon. Current planning has additional water supplies available to the District with water from Lake Texoma on the Red River and Lake Cooper in east Texas. Sampling of the City's water supply is conducted per State and Federal requirements each month. At the present time, utility staff takes more than 90 water samples each month to ensure that the citizens of Allen always have a safe, potable water supply for their needs.

North Texas Municipal Water District Website

2008 Water Quality Report

 

 

 

 

Sampling/Testing

Another critical component to water distribution is to constantly monitor and test the water quality. There are monitors measuring chlorine levels 24 hours a day. This allows the pump station operators the ability to change the chlorination levels in the water based on the test results.

In addition to chlorine levels at the pump stations, the water quality staff takes samples of water throughout the City’s distribution system. The samples are taken to NTMWD for bacteriological testing. Water quality is regulated by the State of Texas where the City is rated as a Superior Water system, which is the highest level that can be achieved.

Storage tank maintenance

Part of water quality includes regular maintenance to the water storage tanks. This entails ensuring the inside and outside of the tanks are in top working conditions, which means we must regularly paint the inside and outside of the tanks.

Cross Connection Prevention

Required as part of the building codes is a permit for a backflow device to eliminate the cross contamination of the water system. These are closely monitored by the Water and Sewer Division to ensure the cross connection for high hazard areas are tested on a regular basis. These devices are typically found on irrigation systems, restaurants, dentist offices, etc. The City and State require that backflow devices of any kind have to be tested every six months or a year depending on the location to insure proper operation of the device.  Any certified plumber may perform this test (see 'Backflow Testers' below).

Backflow Test Report

Backflow Testers

Meter Reading & Maintenance

Meter Maintenance is responsible for setting and maintaining all water meters in the system as well as providing timely and efficient customer service for requests pertaining to meter leak investigations or meter box replacements. Meter Reading is responsible for reading all the water meters in the system in a timely, accurate and efficient manner each month.

Meter Reading

Water meters are read monthly by one of the City’s 8 full time meter technicians. Approximately 65% of the meters use the touch read technology, which allows the technician to use a wand to tap the meter and download the data to read the water usage for the month. The other meters continue to be read by manually opening the box and reading the dial and entering that data into a handheld computer. Either method requires that there is no obstruction on the meter box, which means overgrown grass, shrubs or other materials that make it difficult to access the meter.

If your meter box is broken, please contact the City of Allen to repair it. Also, if you suspect your meter is not reading properly, the City will remove and test the meter for a $20 fee. If the meter is determined to be malfunctioning, the City will replace the meter and reimburse the $20 fee. It is very rare for a meter to run fast, if there is a malfunction in the meter, it typically is running slow.