Folsom hires tech sleuths to figure out why residents’ water pipes are leaking

Folsom city officials have hired university researchers to solve the mystery of hundreds of pinhole leaks residents have been finding in their copper water pipes over the past month.

Officials said they have received 250 reports of leaking water pipes from residents around the city as of Tuesday, prompting them to turn to Virginia Tech University and a private engineering consultancy, Black and Veatch, to help figure out the cause.

City officials said they hope to have an answer by mid-September. Meanwhile, residents around the city continue to complain about pinhole-sized leaks, typically on horizontal cold-water plumbing. Some fortunate residents have caught the leaks early before they cause much damage. Others, however, report ruined walls and mold requiring tens of thousands of dollars in repairs.

The first pinhole leak report came in on July 20, city spokeswoman Christine Brainerd said.

Since then, city officials have taken several steps on their own to figure out the cause, but say they have been unable to. The theory is that there is some issue with the water the city supplies or that there are issues with some of the copper piping that was installed in homes mainly in the 1980s and 1990s.

The reports have been coming in from clusters of homes, but the clusters are spread out throughout the city, without any definable connection to each other, said city water chief Marcus Yasutake.

City engineers called four nearby water districts, but none of those water agencies reported pinhole leak problems. Yasutake said the city has not changed its water pressure and has not changed how it treats the city water.

The city has sent the consultant 10 years worth of data analysis of city water, and samples of pipes that have the leaks. The consultants will review the water quality data and will analyze the corrosion around the punctures in the pipes.

City officials say they welcome information from water customers.

“We understand this is frustrating, stressful, and often costly for our community members,” Brainerd said in an email. “We are asking for any information and assistance from affected residents about this problem.

“We want our community to know we are taking this very seriously and doing everything in our power to identify and address this issue.”

The city is spending $32,000 on the contract.

For more information, or to report a link, contact the city’s Water Quality Division at 916-461-6190 or by email at waterquality@folsom.ca.us.

This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 5:00 AM.