BOISE, Idaho — Two geothermal leaks in two weeks — a problem civil engineer Jon Gunnerson said the City of Boise is actively addressing. The first happened on New Year's Eve, the second on Tuesday, Jan. 9.
Gunnerson oversees the city's geothermal system, which spans 21 miles and heats more than 90 buildings.
"The city system is the largest in the country," he said. "They're using the heat from this water to either heat their buildings, their domestic water, heat their sidewalks, or sidewalk snow melt and a handful of other miscellaneous uses."
But leaks keep cropping up since the city was built in the early 80s. The City of Boise said a corroded flange bolt caused Tuesday's leak.
Chad Johnson knows first-hand the impacts of a geothermal leak. He owns three restaurants in a Main Street building, which was impacted by the New Year's Eve leak.
Five buildings were without heat for several days. While the building Johnson has his restaurants in does not use geothermal, he said their basement was flooded with 4 inches of scalding water.
"We bought pumps to drain the water out," he said. "It took us about three hours to get the four inches of water that we had in the basement out. Not dry, but certainly at a level that it wasn't causing the heat and the humidity that was uncomfortable in the building."
Leaks are not anything new. Gunnerson said most of the pipes within the system are bursting because they have reached the end of their life.
That is why the city started replacing the main pipelines about five years ago. Gunnerson said their goal is to replace the entire system in the next decade.
So far, the city has replaced about half of the system, he said.
"We're using materials that are less susceptible to corrosion, that will have a longer useful life that will be able to provide service for longer durations," Gunnerson said.
Not only that, Gunnerson said the city is upsizing some of the materials to increase capacity as geothermal use throughout downtown grows.
Johnson supports the project. He is working with the city and insurance to help cover the cost of repairs.
"If [the city] can proactively replace some of those perceived inefficiencies in the system, I would encourage it, so it doesn't affect other business owners like it did us," he said.
The city is funding most of the project itself. However, Gunnerson said they are about $15 million short. The team is looking at other funding revenues, such as the state legislature and grants.
Gunnerson said that the city's geothermal system is one of four main systems in Boise, along with a handful of independent users.
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