Hydromax: Odessa valve assessment about 63% complete; frozen and paved‑over valves are largest problems

Hydromax USA representatives reported to the Odessa City Council on Feb. 25 that the contractor has completed roughly 63% of the city’s valve assessment and that about 66% of inspected valves were operable on a first pass.

That assessment matters because the information will let the city target capital and rehabilitation work, improve water quality and pressure in parts of town, and help staff decide whether to repair valves or replace them. Hydromax and city staff said the data are being delivered in a live dashboard the city owns while the contract is in force and will receive monthly data exports for integration into city systems.

Hydromax project manager Austin Jordan and Hydromax operations director Russ Jackson walked council members through the dashboard during a presentation. Jackson said the firm classifies nonoperable valves into several categories: frozen (cannot be actuated up to the contractor’s torque limit), “spins free” (the stem turns but the valve does not open or close), missing operator nuts (no mechanism to turn the valve), and valves that could not be located in the field. “The largest portion” of nonoperable valves the team has found are frozen, Jackson said.

Jackson and Jordan demonstrated filters on the dashboard that show where specific categories of problem valves are located and details about pipe size, number of turns and other attributions acquired during inspection. Jordan said Hydromax’s deliverables “give you exactly that…