Bridgeport seeks source of 50,000-gallon daily water leak

Superintendent of Public Works Stuart Dezellem

MIKE MALTAIS/WARD MEDIA

BRIDGEPORT – The city has a water leak that is losing 40-50,000 gallons daily beyond what is normal. Superintendent of Public Works Stuart Dezellem told the Dec. 18 meeting of the Bridgeport city council that he discovered the problem following the end of the irrigation season. 

“We are pumping 320,000 a day, and we should be at least 280,000 or less,” said Dezellem. “And it hasn’t surfaced.”

“Once we get off of irrigation, we should be down somewhere around 280,000 gallons a day,” said Dezellem. “When it’s not so cold that we are dripping water, and we are not irrigating there’s a four-to-six-week window that we are just servicing residential use.”

Initially, Dezellem thought the problem might be at a specific fire hydrant connection but, after an inspection, ruled that out.

“Our extra houses that we have added are not 40,000 gallons a day,” said Dezellem. “Those are only about 700 gallons a day per home.”

Dezellem said he would need a specialist's help to determine the source of the leak.

“I’m going to have to get leak detection in here again,” said Dezellem. “They have a new detection system at a pretty reasonable quote that fits within my current water tool budget.”

“We have got to find this,” said Dezellem. “Too much water to let go.”

The city faced a similar water loss issue at the public pool in 2023, the source of which also proved difficult to locate. Resurfacing the pool surface turned out to be the solution to that problem.

Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483 or michael@ward.media