Engineer wades through water issues

Sure, and it's a fine line that Dennis Gold walks.

The senior manager for Springfield's water utility has to make sure customers have plenty of clean, inexpensive water when they turn on the faucet. But providing and cleaning that water at a low price takes finesse, Gold said.

The 27-year CU veteran explained the need for a water rate increase the first increase in nine years at the CU board budget study session Aug. 7.

The fine line Gold walks is this: keep just ahead of the need in supply, distribution and treatment, and don't overspend in the process. The utility has done fairly well it breaks even, and then makes a bit with interest investment, according to Elaine McDonald, CU chief financial officer.

But with 1,200 or so new customers signing on each year demanding services, the fine line Gold walks has stretched to the breaking point without more income for the water utility, he said.

Andrew J. Blossom, a partner in KPGM, the independent auditor that reviews the water utility's books, told the board "there's not a lot of fluff" in the budget. He said that without a rate increase, in only a few years the utility won't be able to pay its bills. When he was told there hadn't been a rate increase since 1991, he said "that told the story." The utility has been maintaining the status quo and without a rate increase the utility will be in the hole by 2003.

Credit rating authorities look to the customers in establishing creditworthiness. If the customers are willing to pay as they go, it increases the utility's cre-dit rating, Blossom said.

Just next year, McDonald said, $7.9 million in capital expenditures are needed for the water utility, which operates independently from the other utilities electric, gas, transit and telecommunications.

Money for something

The waterworks has three parts supply, treatment and distribution, which will take the biggest financial bite, $4,515,795. Distribution en-compasses installation of water mains and pipelines. This cost doesn't include internal operation and maintenance. The 1,200 new water services will cost about $697,000, with an extra $1.1 million budgeted for 14 miles of new water main extensions.

Another $1.2 million has been budgeted for the vast number of water main relocation requests resulting from road improvements by the city, county and state.

Jordan Valley Park development relocation costs are separated from other similar projects and are expected to be $304,000 for next year as the park develops.

Operation and maintenance of the water distribution system is expected to cost $1.5 million, which includes the programs for repair of water main and service leaks, water leak surveys, operation and maintenance of water valves and fire hydrants, and the systematic flushing of hydrants.

Construction on the Water Eastern Loop project to connect the Blackman Water Treatment Plant to the Division Street water tanks will cost another $525,000 in 2002.

The utility has been renewing deteriorating and undersized cast-iron water mains, and galvanized and wrought iron water services. Next year it will work on a half mile of mains and 400 services at a cost of $443,000.

And that's just some of the water distribution needs.

Water supply

"Springfield was built on high ground next to a spring. It was an inadequate water system," Gold said. Most cities, he added, are built near major water sources such as lakes and rivers.

So, next year's plan involves expanding the Fellows Lake Pump Station to bring more water to the city for treatment and increase treatment capacity from 30 million gallons per day to 52 million gallons per day. This will be done over the next 14 years in about 3 million gallons per day increments. The first phase will be to expand the pump station building and to add a fourth pump next year with a price tag of $1.5 million.

Also, a 48-inch pipeline will be constructed from Fellows Lake to the Blackman plant. The initial cost of the first phase of the new pipeline, to be installed at Sunshine and Highway 65, will be $390,000. The remainder of the project is expected to be complete in 2004 with a total cost of $12.25 million. The pipeline will complement the 36-inch line already in place. The second pipeline will reduce pumping costs and will add reliability to the water supply to Blackman. The old line has been ruptured by construction activity twice in the last couple of years, and a section of the pipeline split in September 1999. As more and more construction activity occurs around the existing pipeline, a second pipeline will ensure the volume of water necessary for customers' needs, Gold said.

Because CU has to pump water from so far away and rely on so many different water sources, it's difficult to compare Springfield's water system to other cities because although it isn't unique, it also isn't the norm, Gold said. He cautioned City Council, which has requested a comparison of water rates across the country, to take a close look at the types of water systems being compared.

Gold told the board that most cities are built near water sources, such as lakes or rivers, which relieves them of substantial pumping costs. Next year, the water utility will pay the electric utility approximately $900,000 to pump water. Up until next year, the water utility actually only paid the fuel cost to generate the electricity needed to operate the pumps, but the plan is to phase in the true costs over five years as CU attempts to "unbundle" the individual utilities.

The utilities need to be unbundled, said CFO McDonald, because future deregulation of the electric utility is likely, and the electric utility doesn't need to carry the other utilities.

The water utility estimates it will pay $400,000 to Empire District Electric Co. to pump water from Stockton Lake to the Fulbright Station because the pump is in Empire's operation territory. Already Empire has been paid $300,000 for electricity to operate the pumps this year, Gold said, and he thinks the rate will go up at least a few percent.

For its water supply, Springfield uses a system of wells, lakes, a river, and a spring.

With the addition of the Nuccitelli Pipeline from Stockton Lake, where the utility has access to more than 8 billion gallons of water, the city's water needs are assured for at least 50 years.

Drinking water doesn't come from Lake Springfield, as many people think, Gold said. That water is used for cooling at the James River Power Plant. Drinking water comes from Fulbright Spring, McDaniel Lake, Fellows Lake, Valley Water Mill, Stockton Lake and the James River. Each of those supplies have differing treatment needs, he said, which is costly.

"The James River is not a good source because it's not reliable," Gold said. "We haven't been able to take water out of it for over a month." He said the river water was "too turbid," meaning thick with muddy sediment.

Water also comes from five deep wells Fulbright, Fairview, Kansas, Orchard Crest and Blackman. Blackman and Fulbright wells pump into the water treatment plants while the other three pump directly into the water system, Gold said.

Water treatment

Differing water quality from the various sources contributes to the very complex water system, which makes it difficult to keep ahead of treatment, Gold told the board.

For instance, at McDaniel Lake this time of year, there is always an algae bloom which under the right conditions can create "a taste and odor problem," Gold said.

The cost of water treatment is huge. Next year's budget calls for a total expenditure of $1,877,000 for capital and $4,912,553 for non capital expenses. Noncapital expenses include $1.8 million for operations, $1 million for maintenance and $500,000 for laboratory services.

Increases in daily peaks can be handled with incremental increases in treatment capacity. For instance, "every two or three years we can upgrade one of the Blackman water filters and increase treatment by 3.2 million gallons a day," Gold said.

Next year the cost of upgrading one filter will be about $888,000. Blackman has eight filters.

Gold said the water utility has been careful not to overbuild treatment facilities.

There's a fine line between treatment capacity and maximum demand.

Gold said CU likes to be able to have the capacity to treat about 2 million more gallons than they actually need. To keep that cushion, various options are available.

By slowly improving the treatment plants, the utility can spread the cost over several years. It can make the media beds that filter the water deeper, use larger pumps to increase the water flow to the plans and enhance the backwashing system.

Already two filters have been converted as required by regulations for the Department of Natural Resources in 1999 and 2000. Since the conversion increased capacity of the treatment plant, the DNR gave approval to further conversions.

This new budget includes $888,000 to purchase electric switch-gear, pump motors and other equipment.

Next year a storage facility for water treatment sediments will be built at Blackman, and the total cost is expected to be $408,000. Once in place, the utility will save about $100,000 per year.

The water utility spends more than $1 million yearly just to keep a laboratory fully staffed to test the water. The lab also tests and monitors equipment used throughout the treatment process. The utility has to abide by a multitude of regulations from the federal government the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, Gold said. "We have a lot of equipment just for testing."