Water-company workers identified nine valves of the type that have failed in recent weeks along an Eldorado water line from Galisteo Creek near Lamy, a project manager said.

A water customer found two valves gushing water, and company workers walking a water line found another leaking valve after storage-tank levels dropped precipitously in early May.

"Why are they all blowing at once?" district Vice President Jerry Cooper asked the water-company project manager at a July 1 meeting.

"If they put them all in at the same time, they are all going to fail at the same time," said Doug Gaumer, project manager for Operations Management International, which operates the water system under a contract with the Eldorado Area Water and Sanitation District.

Workers have since disabled all but one of the air-release valves, which are designed to release excess pressure in the system, but have installed one on the Lamy water line, with no apparent "rhyme or reason," Gaumer said. Disabling the valves won't necessarily protect the system from further leaks near the valves, he said.

The 150-psi valves were fitted onto the water line with adapters also rated at 150 psi. Gaumer said water pressure in the line, leading uphill from pumps in the creek bed, fluctuated between 150 psi and 225 psi during one test, and at times, reached 275 psi.

To stop water flowing in the line and refit the valves could cost the district $5,000. Work might have to wait until increased summer demand subsides, Gaumer said.

Gaumer said that after the two leaking valves were located, workers walked along the buried pipeline, where a customer later found another leaking valve on June 28, but they found no leaks.

With 110 miles of pipe in the system, some of which crosses remote areas, leaks could easily escape notice, board members cautioned. Water District Secretary Stephen Wust urged customers to be on the lookout for evidence of leaks in system water lines and to contact district officials if any are found.

Estimates of water lost from the leaks, one of which board member George Haddad described as "forceful," range from nearly 2 million gallons to several millions more, depending on who you ask.

Members of the water district board have suggested lower amounts, whereas John Hawkins, who discovered two of the leaks and plans to run for a seat on the board in January, estimated losses from the two leaks could have reached about 10 million gallons.

Meanwhile, water-district customers remain under summerlong water-use restrictions, which, among other things, limit outdoor water use to one day a week, prohibit new outdoor planting and require permits for construction work in the district.

District officials first imposed restrictions this year, after tank levels suddenly dropped in early May, but the Office of State Engineer in June required the district keep the restrictions in place as a condition of using Well 17, which the district drilled last year under an exploratory permit.

The district is seeking a production permit for the well, over the objections of residents downstream and downhill from the district, and has applied for an emergency permit to use the well while the process continues. A hearing on the permit is set for Oct. 14, with a decision expected within six months of the hearing.

Contact David Collins at 986-3064 or dcollins@sfnewmexican.com