California Drought: S.f. Seeks Tech Fix To Leaky Pipes

With a fourth year of drought looming, officials at many water departments are taking extra steps to make sure their pipes are free of glitches big and small. “Especially these last four years, being in a drought, this has taken heightened importance for us,” said Katie Miller, a division manager for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, who is spearheading the program. Miller noted that reducing lost water also keeps customer rates down, since it doesn’t have to be absorbed as a loss on the books. With more than 1,200 miles of pipeline beneath city streets, water officials are focusing their initial inspections on about 130 miles of cast iron lines that deliver water exclusively to firefighters. Bess, 31, who works with his colleague Anthony Stevenson at M.E.