Testing and exercising the fire hydrants in Nevada City on a regular basis was put on hold during the drought in recent years, according to Bryan McAlister, Nevada City Engineer.
“We weren’t doing pressure tests on a regular basis because of water drought related water concerns; we stopped doing that,” McAlister said. “It’s actually more common in many cities to do modeling instead of flow tests. So we do have a model that we just did last year.”
“It’s a computer model, and you calibrate it by doing tests in certain locations,” McCalister went on to say. “I think what we’ll do is keep that model up to date.”
Mayor Gary Petersen brought up several questions related to water and fire hydrants during this week’s Special City Council meeting while discussing strategic plans for the “maintenance of cost efficient, reliable, resilient, and sustainable drinking and irrigation water sources and wastewater treatment capabilities,” according to the staff report.
“Real time testing never hurts,” Petersen said. “Your model will not tell you the functionality of those hydrants.”
Petersen, concerned after the tragic fires in Southern California, asked the city staff, “What is our status with our fire hydrants? Are they tested? Are they pressurized? Do we understand the status of them?”
Sean Grayson, City Manager of Nevada City confirmed that the hydrants in the city are “tested and exercised every year, and then repainted… It is something that’s in the Fire Safety Advisory Committee’s plan.”
Painting hydrants is important as they are color coded by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) so that any fire fighter will know the potential amount of water that each hydrant can produce, according to Chief Mark Buttron, Grass Valley Fire Department.
If the cap of a hydrant or the entire hydrant is painted red, that indicates 1 to 499 gallons per minute (GPM).
Orange indicates 500 to 900 GPMs; Green indicates 1,000 to 1,400 GPMs; and Blue indicates 1,500 and above, according to Buttron.
The question of how well each fire hydrant works in Nevada City, and all areas throughout the state, is “very topical… With the top priority being fire, we need a very clear understanding… this is about the confidence of our community,” Mayor Petersen said.
The city manager said that he took note of the concern and that he would “bring something back, either as a goal to be adopted into the Strategic Plan or an objective.”
To build confidence in the infrastructure and capabilities of flow from fire hydrants in Nevada City, Grayson suggested that more information be provided through the City’s website.
“The easiest thing would be to share the model, share the testing that we do, share the maintenance intervals, put that all on a map and make it available on our website for people to see where our items are, what their performance is, and then largely our street infrastructure hasn’t changed since 1856 with the exception of the newer parts of town,” Grayson said.
Residents could potentially look up particular hydrants and see what their performance is based on the gravity vent system, according to Grayson.
“The water system in our town is inconsistent with pressure,” Petersen said. “I don’t know how that translates to the hydrants.”
Deciding if the topic of hydrants should be moved from the category of a ‘water initiative’ to a ‘fire initiative’ in the City’s five-year Strategic Plan may be a good idea, according to Grayson.
“Hardening of our critical infrastructure as part of our fire process, opens it up more for grants,” Grayson said.
A dozen goals related to water were discussed by the city council as they work to constantly update the “living document,” according to Grayson.
The ‘water initiatives’ within the Strategic Plan look ahead to long term goals such as the construction of a modern courthouse expected to be underway in 2027 and completed in 2031.
A ten-year plan to increase treated water storage in tanks by 1.5 million gallons, of which the new courthouse would require about one-third of that storage for their fire flow, according to McAlister.
The courthouse is going to require 250,000 to 500,000 gallon storage tank, and there is an “economy of scale” meaning that three times the tank size isn’t three times the cost, according to Grayson.
“The advantage of that location, especially if we put it behind the courthouse, is you have much more treated water storage, but you also have much more head pressure for this side of town. Those are all good things that speak to both our need for capacity and increase fire flows,” Grayson said.
Another long-term and continuing goal is a master plan for a funding stream to replace all water and wastewater pipes in Nevada City.
“Bryan (McAlister) has done an amazing job of replacing as you go when there is a road project,” Grayson said.
The Engineering Department has “age class maps that show the age of the pipes, and then we’re always replacing the oldest pipes, and keeping those maps updated,” McAlister said.
A pipe in Nevada City that is 150 years old is considered a “young pipe,” according to Grayson, and updating that infrastructure is a constant “hidden thing” that people are not always aware of.
“We have age class maps that show the age of the pipes, and then we’re always replacing the oldest pipes. Keep those maps updated,” said McAlister.
Another part of the Strategic Plan in relation to water updates is to “coordinate with Nevada Irrigation District (NID) for potential regional projects, economies of scale and funding sources,” according to Grayson.
The City has done that through NID’s 2050 plans, and “NID’s biggest efforts is in how can they expand water retention for the purposes of delivery” especially after the tremendous impact of PG&E’s failures of Spaulding and damage to the duct system that brings water from the watersheds into this part of the County, according to Grayson.
Tracking water usage could be improved if the City develops a plan for enhanced technology for meters, leak detection, and system enhancements, according to the Strategic Plan.
The current meters have spin dials which can be read by crews who hold a wand close to each individual meter and the information is sent to a handheld device which is then downloaded to software purchased by the City in the 1980s and needs updating, according to Grayson.
“Those components will be updated soon,” Grayson said. “Ultimately, that’s a lot of people hours engaged in something that in other communities, Donna, at the front desk, could just hit ‘Enter’ on a report, and it just extracts that.”
The old meters sometimes fail and undercharge a client, charging for much less water or no water, so updating this aspect of the water initiative is important, according to Grayson.
Installing private fire hydrants
Property owners can have fire hydrants installed on private property in Nevada County, if a 2,500 gallon water source is available for a single-family dwelling, according to Patrick Mason, Fire Marshal for Nevada County Consolidated Fire.
Prior to construction of the water supply, plans must be submitted to the Fire District for review and approval. Plans must include the method of storing water, approximate volume of stored water, and the type and size of piping to be used, according to Mason.
The system must be designed so that the water supply is available for use by the fire apparatus at a rate of not less than 500 gallons per minute.
“The biggest thing we run into with these projects is whether the installation of a hydrant is to be used only for the property owner, or shared with the neighborhood if needed,” Mason said. “If the hydrant is for the use of the neighborhood, then the tank needs to be bigger.”
The cost of the tank and installation is estimated to be from $6,000 to $10,000 and there is an application and inspection process.
To have a fire hydrant installed in Nevada County, property owners can contact the Nevada County Consolidated Fire District (NCCD). They can provide advice on purchasing equipment and help with the installation process, according to Mason.
The location, size of piping, connections, and source of water such as a pond, must be protected from freezing, according to the NCCD Fire Protection Water Supply Systems information and sheet.
Insurance companies favor homes that are located within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant; they also prefer homes that are located within five miles of a fire station. These homes can expect to pay a lower premium than those located further away from a fire hydrant, according to Phillip Irwin, a representative from the California FAIR Plan Insurance.
“If a property owner wants to develop a water source to be recognized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in order to receive a discount on an insurance plan, a minimum of 30,000 gallons on automatic refill with connections to a water source such as a pond are required,” Mason said.