Tests show district meets state requirements for hydrant pressure
In fall 2011, after wildfires ripped through Steiner Ranch, West Lake Hills Mayor Dave Claunch and City Administrator Robert Wood met with Clif Drummond, president of the Water District No. 10 board of directors, and Paul Wakefield, general manager for WD No. 10, to discuss water pressure and flow rates for fire hydrants throughout the city.
The city chose to spend $30,000 to test WD No. 10's infrastructure in West Lake Hills, foregoing the water district's engineering firm that could generate estimates using mathematical models at little to no cost.
"We preferred the actual test results over mathematical models, so we inquired about the cost of conducting the test," Claunch said.
The city received the results Dec. 8, 2011, and found that 60 percent, or 118 hydrants, provided more than 2,000 gallons per minute and 40 percent, or 79 hydrants, provided less than 2,000 gallons per minute.
The State of Texas requires a minimum of 250 gallons per minute flow. In the event that a hydrant produces less than 250 gallons per minute, the hydrant must be painted black.
"[250 gallons per minute] is hardly a suitable minimum for sustaining a reasonable fire fighting effort in any locale—much less West Lake Hills," Claunch said.
Michael Lacey, Travis County Emergency Services District No. 9 fire marshal, spoke with the ESD No. 9 board of directors during a public meeting Sept. 4 where he explained that when fighting a house fire in West Lake Hills, 2,000 gallons per minute at hydrants is the fire crew's preferred pressure. This allows for crews to use a single master stream at 1,000 gallons per minute and four separate and lines at 250 gallons per minute each, he said.
While ESD No. 9 and West Lake Hills City Council may wish that all hydrants are more than 2,000 gallons per minute, every hydrant in the WD No. 10 coverage area—roughly 600 hydrants—meets the state minimum and in most cases exceed them, Drummond said.
"The state didn't make that number up," Drummond said. "[West Lake Hills City Council] ridiculed it, saying that it wasn't adequate, but that number comes straight from the international fire codes. We have never shot for that [minimum number], we have exceeded that."
The WD No. 10 exceeds the state requirements by a factor of three to 12 times and designed its system to exceed the 250-gallon-per-minute requirement, Drummond said. The system was originally designed, with consultation from ESD No. 9, to run at 1,000 gallons per minute and more recently at 1,500 gallons per minute, he said.
Adopting resolutions
As a result of the public meeting, both the ESD No. 9 board and West Lake Hills City Council adopted resolutions urging WD No. 10 to improve its infrastructure in order to support a minimum of 2,000 gallons per minute at all fire hydrants.
"Based on the expert opinion of ESD No. 9 and policies adopted by the cities of Rollingwood and Austin, I believe that it is reasonable and appropriate for the residents of West Lake Hills to expect that the fire hydrants serving their homes in the event of a fire will be capable of producing 2,000 gallons per minute," Claunch said.
Rollingwood, located just east of West Lake Hills, operates its own municipal water utility system and recently began investing in its infrastructure in order to improve pressures and flow rates for both domestic and fire hydrant use. The city has set a minimum standard of 1,500 gallons per minute for fire hydrants in its water system, Rollingwood Mayor Barry Bone said.
In addition to updating infrastructure, Rollingwood is one of the few cities in Texas that succeeded in adopting a residential fire sprinkler ordinance before the Texas Legislature prohibited such ordinances in 2009. The city requires residential sprinklers in all new homes and homes being renovated by more than 50 percent, adding an additional level of fire suppression for homes.
West Lake Hills' efforts to adopt a similar code were pre-empted by the Texas Legislature.
Who is responsible?
The City of West Lake Hills and WD No. 10 have been in discussion about improving the infrastructure of the city so all hydrants meet the 2,000 gallons per minute rate desired by both the city and ESD No. 9, and who would be responsible for such an undertaking.
"I thought the answer was obvious to everyone," Claunch said.
In the conversation with Claunch, Wakefield said that the water district was providing water pressure for hydrants at the state minimum, Claunch said.
WD No. 10 is the sole provider of water service to the businesses and residents of West Lake Hills. The entity owns the pipes, pumps, tanks and even the hydrants themselves, Claunch said.
"Those hydrants are there to provide water with which to extinguish a fire. If it's not WD No. 10's job to provide water for fighting fires, then who's job is it?" he said.
Drummond responded to Wakefield's comments on the water district not being responsible for providing water to fight fires saying, "What Paul meant to say, and which he has said consistently from the beginning of his time working for the district, was, 'The water district is not in the business of fighting fires—that responsibility belongs to Emergency Service District No. 9.'"
WD No. 10 has included fire hydrants in its distribution system, an action not required by the State of Texas or the International Code Council, Drummond said. WD No. 10 designed its system around three elements—pumping, storage and transmission—to provide both water pressures, storage capacity and expected fire flows well in excess of state requirements, he said.
State requirements versus International Fire Code
Michael Lacey, Travis County Emergency Services District No. 9 fire marshal, said that although state regulations for fire hydrants are only set at 250 gallons per minute fire flow, that is a number that was set to distinguish a fire hydrant from a dump valve, which must be painted black.
ESD No. 9 follows the International Fire Code, which governs fire flow based on home size and not gallons per minute, Lacey said.
As of a few years ago, the average home size in West Lake Hills was about 3,500 square feet, which would require a fire flow of about 1,000 gallons per minute, Lacey said. There are roughly 11 hydrants in the West Lake Hills area that do not meet those requirements, WD No. 10 Board President Clif Drummond said. The average of those 11 hydrants is roughly 850 gallons per minute, he said.
Lacey, however, said that with newer and bigger homes being built in the area, that number has to be adjusted.
"The average size of new homes in the West Lake Hills area is about 7,500 square feet," Lacey said. "When you average the new size with the old size and apply the IFC you come up with about 2,000 gallons per minute."
Lacey said that the resolutions passed by ESD No. 9 and West Lake Hills City Council are an effort to have WD No. 10 upgrade the infrastructure as it is needed.
"It is more about planning for the future," Lacey said. "When some older pipes need to be replaced, the water district will replace them with larger-capacity pipes to provide a better fire flow."
