"Our biggest challenge is how do you manage growth, and how can we go from being reactive to proactive?"
Alvan Davis, Distribution and Collection Administrator
Background
TriRiver Water is a regional water utility in North Carolina serving approximately 40,000 customers comprised of the City of Sanford, the Town of Pittsboro, Chatham County, and Siler City. Like numerous utilities grappling with the challenges of aging infrastructure, where water mains typically range from 70 to 100 years old, they are also tasked with meeting the evolving needs of a rapidly expanding community with over 1000 miles of water and sewer lines.
In a progressive move, TriRiver Water was created via a merger in 2024. This collaboration sets a new precedent for other mid-sized municipalities in effectively managing community growth by pooling resources for cost efficiency and crafting a sustainable future. The area has become a magnet for major manufacturers and industries due to the plentiful water supply. With the merger, TriRiver operates a total of four water filtration facilities, five wastewater treatments plants with the daily capacity of 12 million gallons per day.
Inherently, sustainability involves waste management and responsible stewardship of water resources through minimizing water leaks.
In 2022, the City of Sanford initiated a pilot program by retrofitting existing M&H 129 fire hydrants with iHydrant® pressure and temperature monitoring technology. The task of monitoring over 600 miles of water lines for main failures and leaks, would be challenging as many of the water mains run through miles of rural areas. The idea was that the system would provide real-time alerts if a significant pressure drop was detected within the vicinity of the sensor, enabling prompt identification of a water main leak to minimize water loss and reduce downtime.
Data Driven Decisions
After the initial success of the pilot phase, a propagation study was completed to identify ideal locations to place more devices. This also enabled the city to implement iHydrant’s Event Localization feature, to help them find where the source of an event originated and its impact on the system in near real-time. The use of this data allowed crews to respond quicker and reduce water loss, utilizing less personnel to search with decisive action. The technology helped operations become more proactive, allowing staff to detect pressure issues early, be prepared with data when customers call, and manage emergencies— especially overnight—more efficiently. As the City of Sanford continued the deployment of their iHydrant network, it provided critical system visibility, locating leaks on transmission mains, identifying transients prompting investigations and resolutions, and helped make informed operational decisions during the expansion.
The pressure data has also enhanced their comprehension of the demand on their system when supplying water to another municipality. The real-time data has allowed for adjustments and validation of their hydraulic model.
Progressing Forward
As TriRiver Water progresses with the implementation of iHydrants across their network and integrates new water systems following the merger, the information gathered from iHydrant is instrumental in guiding their capital investment strategies to effectively address customer demands.
