In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, water management facilities have had to figure out how to keep systems up and running while avoiding putting their technicians and other employees at risk of contracting or spreading the coronavirus.

Simply not servicing valves is not an option. A malfunction can lead to a serious headache, said Roger Lah, Technical Product Specialist for Cla-Val, not only in terms of coping with a malfunction but also from bad press or frustrated residents.

“Whenever you see a pipe main failure on the nightly news, they don’t talk about how it happened. It could be just old pipes, or it could’ve been a valve that was never serviced that actually caused the problem to begin with,” Lah said. “There’s often a story behind it.”

Fortunately for managers, a Cla-Val valve and Link2Valves, “a simple to use tool that manages the service scheduling of automatic control valves and other water system assets,” may be the perfect solution, said Mike Trosper, Western Region Service Manager.

“A lot of these valves are installed in vaults and stuff, so it’s confined space, and it takes a crew of two or three guys. With the electronic monitoring, you don’t need anything,” Trosper said. “You’ve got three guys you don’t need to put in a truck together or keep them all separated and don’t have to have them go in and set up in confined space and all kinds of stuff just to get a pressure reading. When it’s already electronic, you’re reading what’s going on live and without anybody having to go out to the valve.”

Using a mobile app, thorough data and photographs, Link2Valves can help operators engage in more successful service schedules and keep their assets up and running, even when social distancing and other considerations must be a priority. Instead of reacting to problems, service can be scheduled on a preventative or periodic basis.

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