Dan Hamilton, General Manager of the King George Service Authority, provided a briefing on a significant water leak at Wawa in Dahlgren and said it may finally explain the millions of gallons the Authority had been losing on a monthly basis.

Hamilton said the water leak was reported around 2 p.m. on Thursday, April 23. Crews initially believed the issue was due to a fire hydrant assembly near the intersection of Dahlgren Road and Route 301.

“Our original thought was that it was the fire hydrant that was actually leaking,” Hughes said. “We attempted to shut the valve that isolates that fire hydrant and the valve assembly moved and failed,” Hamilton said during the May 5 KGSA meeting.

The underground valve assembly had severely deteriorated over time. Two of four bolts holding the valve bonnet together had corroded away, he explained.

“That did not happen catastrophically in one fell swoop,” he said. “That had been leaking for some time. I suspected at least one of the bolts had failed months or even years ago.”

Once crews attempted to operate the valve, the assembly “basically fell apart,” leaving the repair site underwater and forcing the authority to shut down a large section of the system.

Roughly 120 customers lost service, most of them commercial properties in the busy Dahlgren corridor, including businesses in the Food Lion shopping center, the Wawa, Arby’s, nearby gas stations, medical offices and some residential customers off Dahlgren Road.

The shutdown process stretched for hours as crews struggled with aging infrastructure.

“It took quite a while because we had a number of valves that we either couldn’t locate or didn’t operate,” Hamilton said. Water service was finally shut off around 10 to 10:30 p.m. Thursday. KGSA, operating with reduced staffing due to illnesses and vacation absences, had to call in an outside contractor because the repair exceeded the authority’s capabilities.

Once isolated, the repair itself moved quickly, accoriding to Hamilton. He said the break was repaired by approximately 2 a.m., with water service beginning to return around 2:30 to 3:30 a.m.

“Frankly, it should have been a lot quicker than that,” Hamilton said. “There should have been a valve on the 6-inch line that feeds that hydrant on the other side of Dahlgren Road. And there was none.” But that is an issue that dates back to when the infrastructure was installed roughly 20 years ago.

Despite the disruption, the authority reported no water quality issues. The authority avoided the need to issue a boil water advisory, and two bacteria samples collected after the repair both tested negative, reeported Hamilton.

Further, Hamilton said he believes this incident could mark a breakthrough in understanding the unexplained water losses in the Dahlgren system.

“We know there is a discrepancy in Dahlgren related to the amount we’re pumping versus the amount we’re billing,” Hamilton said. “I’m confident that there’s a relationship here.”

One of the strongest clues, involves a nearby stormwater pond adjacent to the Wawa property. Historical aerial imagery reviewed by staff showed the pond was once dry.

“At some point that’s become a wetland and I suspect that it’s related to the leak,” Hughes said. “I’m hopeful that this is the major leak we’ve been looking for for a while.”