City-wide Water valve location & exercising Program           

April 29, 2011

Greenville Water’s Engineering & Operations department has begun a Water Valve Exercising Program of 7,281 valves throughout the City of Greenville.  As a result of this Program, the Water System will realize numerous benefits, such as, identifying water valves which have been covered with asphalt or buried, determining if the valves are in the open or closed position, or if they work at all.

This inspection is vital to ensuring that the distribution system provides unobstructed water flow, which in turn, will assist in maintaining consistent pressure in the system.  In addition, the Program will give us the opportunity to be proactive in identifying those valves which need to be replaced before discovering them when an emergency occurs.

To date, 6,843 valves have been exercised successfully, 58 were deemed broken or inoperable, and 438 are inaccessible and additional work to assess them is ongoing. 

Greenville Water crews have already repaired half of the 58 valves and will be performing the work to either repair or replace the remaining 29 inoperable valves in the City.  It is not anticipated that the repair of valves should create any noticeable changes in the water service to your home or business. 

In the event that a valve needs to be replaced, the water will need to be turned off.  Our crews will schedule this work to create the least amount of inconvenience as possible.  Our intent is to notify affected parties within 72 hours of turning a main off for repair.  In addition to the water being turned off, you may notice that our crews may have to cut the roadway to access the valve and detour traffic around the work area.  Work will occur in a manner so as to maintain emergency access to the affected area.  The typical valve replacement should only take a couple of hours, but could take longer depending upon the circumstances encountered when performing the work.

Click on the following link for a map of the valve locations within the City of Greenville.  If you have any questions regarding the work on a valve located on your street, please contact our Engineering Department at (864)241-6100 or email us at engineering@greenvillewater.com.