Report Problem
Translate
Glennon Zelch worked to keep water flowing in Louisville for decades. He even helped resolve an emergency that threatened to cut off all the faucets downtown.
He retired from Louisville Water in 2001, but Zelch wasn’t finished working on water systems. He moved to Nevada where he volunteered his time to a small town utility, which benefited from the engineering and operational skills he honed in Louisville.
From Leak Surveys to Major Main Breaks
Zelch first worked for Louisville Water in January 1964 under a consulting contract the company had with Pitometer Associates.
“We did a hidden leak survey of the entire water system, which at that time only went to the city limits,” he said. “We completed this survey in May 1965, so I moved on to Chicago.”
By 1968, Louisville Water had absorbed all the surrounding water districts. The company hired Pitometer Associates to conduct a hidden leak survey of those areas, and Zelch was again the engineer assigned to the project. It was completed in 1970, but a couple years later, Zelch was yet again assigned to Louisville Water for another survey and other testing, which lasted until 1981. Then the company hired him full time.
“So from May 1981 until retirement in May 2001 I was a real Louisville Water employee,” he said. “Although I had various titles — leak detection manager, operations support manager, operations manager, etc. — I always worked from Allmond Avenue with the field crews and emergency turners. During this time I worked on everything related to the field operations, from developing better materials, writing material purchase specifications, evaluating new materials, and developing a system for pulling lead services”
He said one of the biggest challenges he faced during this time was a 48″ main break in Cherokee Park “that almost put downtown Louisville out of water. The pressure dropped below 20 psi. Working with the emergency turners, we got it valved off completely and the system back up to normal in 90 minutes. This was remarkable considering the size and number of valves involved. There were many other challenges, but this had the potential for being the most disastrous, and we turned it into a minor event.”
Heading West
When Zelch retired, he and his wife moved to Pioche, Nevada, “which is a very small town — population. 650 — on the east edge of the state 180 miles north of Las Vegas up Highway 93,” he explained. “We moved there because we loved the dry climate but did not want the big-city rat race, and Pioche has the best water in Nevada.”
“After spending the first two years building our house, I began helping the utility manager with some of their problems,” Zelch added. “Pioche Public Utilities provided water, sewer, and electric service with just the utility manager and his helper and one office person.
“My volunteer help consisted of operating a backhoe (including digging a half mile of pipe trench), installing circulation systems and better roof vents on the water tanks, and establishing formal policies for installation of new water, sewer, and electric services. I served on the Town Board, which was the operating board for PPU, and on the Lincoln County Planning commission along with volunteering for the fire department and being commander of the sheriff’s Search and Rescue Unit.”
In 2023, Zelch decided to move again. This time to Minnesota.
“When our youngest grandkids got out of school, as fate would have it, they both got jobs in northern Minnesota just 60 miles apart,” he said, “so our daughter and her husband who were living in Pioche decided to move up there to be closer to them. After they moved, my wife thought we should move also, so in November 2023 we found a house in Roseau, Minnesota.”
Would he be willing to help out with that state’s water systems?
Zelch said he’s “not looking for another job,” but he’s always “very willing to help any utility that wants help because I still like solving problems.”
