Water treatment in Toulouse: an incident under control on a chlorine pipeline

You probably don’t realize it when you turn on your tap to drink a glass of water. And yet, this innocuous and everyday gesture is at the end of a chain of complex engineering that can have its flaws. Last Tuesday, an incident relating to a chlorine leak took place on the site of the Pech David water treatment plant. Here is the exact process. Two technicians were then carrying out a round of checking the pipes in the chlorine room. They were equipped with their cartridge mask. Passing in front of tank no. 3, they detected heavy condensation at the level of the chlorometry connection nut and oxidation of the thread. At first glance, they did not detect a leak, but when they tried to tighten the loose nut, the flange fell apart causing a leak at the fitting. The two then evacuated the room. At 10:40 a.m., the alarms went off and the vacuum neutralization system started.

64 kg of chlorine escape

The outside water sprinkler system worked perfectly. At 10:42 a.m., the technicians called the fire department explaining precisely the problem. At 11 a.m., the first rescue team arrived on site and took the decision to activate the chemical cell with 40 men and 10 vehicles mobilized. The leak was finally stopped at 12:16 p.m. and the volume of chlorine that escaped was assessed at 64 kg. The firefighters left the site at 12:50 p.m. A perfectly controlled operation. Because. “A leak simulation exercise on the same site was carried out with the firefighters on February 7, underlines Robert Médina, vice-president of the metropolis in charge of water. To deal with this type of incident, training is essential. The active participation of everyone in the crisis exercises that we carry out is a necessity in order to acquire the right gestures. In passing, we can congratulate the Pech-David teams and in particular the two technicians for their professionalism and their composure”.
Gilles-R. Soiled