 PWSD 3 Getting Big Upgrade
Thursday, July 31, 2008 by Laura Schuler, C-T
July 31, 2008 - To meet the growing needs of its population, Public Water Supply District No. 3 will soon undergo the biggest improvement project in its 25-year history.
John Churan, board president said the estimated $1.7 to $1.9 million project is still currently in the design phase, awaiting approval from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). However, he noted that bids will likely be accepted sometime this fall and construction should start in either late fall or early spring, depending on the weather.
The majority of the district’s members in Livingston, Ray, Caldwell and Carroll Counties passed a bond issue question last fall to fund the project which is designed to add additional elevated water storage, provide distribution improvements and increase pumping capacity.
Those improvements will address the current and future needs of the district. According to an assessment by the DNR, the projected population of the district, which now stands at about 840 residents, will reach 1,030 within the next 18 years. The district’s current customers also have an average daily water demand of 212,000 gallons-per-day. That demand will likely grow to approximately 290,880 gallons-per-day in 18 years, the assessment says.
Currently, Churan said, the district has insufficient storage capacity for water pressure in the Avalon area of the district. The project provides for the addition of a new 200,000-gallon elevated storage tank. The tank, he said, will be on the same site of the existing Avalon standpipe, which will be disconnected from the system upon the project’s completion.
The project will also address the district’s undersized distribution system. According to the assessment, the project includes the replacement of smaller lines in the system and provides looping of lines to improve redundancy and hydraulic flow. Specifically, the distribution line improvements consist of approximately 16,000 feet of 8-inch pipe, approximately 47,000 feet of 6-inch pipe and approximately 2,500 feet of 3-inch pipe. “Right now we have all of our original pipes in the ground,” Churan said. He added that the pipes are old and deteriorated and frequently
leak.
The project provides
for a new pump station located next to the existing Route Z pump
station. The assessment shows that the new pump station consists
of two 170 gallons-per-minute pumps to fill the new elevated
storage tank. Churan said that during peak usage (usually in the
summer), the district has trouble keeping its main tank at
elevation to serve its customers. "We struggle to keep
up," he said.
Jon Deshayes, project
engineer with Allstate Consultants in Marceline, Mo., said that
the district has qualified for a 20-year low interest loan from
the Department of Natural Resources state revolving fund which
will net the district $700,000 to $900,000. Other grant money
going to the project, Deshayes says, involves a rural water
grant, and a Community Block Grant. That money, he explained
will be allocated after the funds from the loan are spent.
The current average
residential user charge for drinking water in PWSD No. 3 is
$40.43 per 5,000 gallons. The proposed improvements will change
the fee structure to $49.77 for the same amount of water.
The district conducted
a public meeting on the scope of improvements, engineering
alternatives and environmental impacts of the project last month
and no one voiced opposition to the project. PWSD No. 3
purchases all of its drinking water from the city of Chillicothe
and currently has an agreement with Chillicothe to purchase at
least 2 million gallons per month.
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