During the Nov. 21 City Council meeting, Sodaville reported the cause of a second major water leak that cost the city a loss of 83,000 gallons of water.
Public Works Director J D Burns explained a curb stop valve popped off a pipe connected to the main water line at night and hadn’t been noticed until the next day. He reported this caused a 25% loss of available water, which is equal to 18 truckloads of water and 36 hours of trucking at a cost of $5,328.
The leak occurred shortly after a “geyser” leak on the same property cost the city 40,000 gallons.
According to Burns, Ray Jackman, of Jackman’s Repair, recently donated a “squeeze off” tool to the city, which can be used to stop water from gushing out a broken pipe without having to turn off the main water line.
But the city didn’t have this tool when the two major leaks occurred. Burns described how he had to turn off the main line and wait for all the remaining water to drain from the main (about 150 feet of six-inch line) before he could effectively close off the broken pipe.
City staff are brainstorming ideas to solve similar problems that may occur in the future, Burns said, including an idea to put a camera in the compound as a way to remotely monitor well and reservoir levels.
“We’re at the point where, if we don’t raise the water rates and start buying parts to fix these things –,” Mayor Brian Lewis said, continuing on to say the city has since been trucking in water on a daily basis to make up for the loss. “Every time we have a disaster like that, we have no funds to back it up.”
Mayor Lewis said they’re thinking about how to communicate the situation with the citizens and get feedback from everyone.
“If Sodaville doesn’t make it, everybody in Sodaville is gonna be hurtin’,” he said.
McGuire informed the council there are several organizations and people trying to help Sodaville find more grants and funding to help with water, road and other issues. Burns added there’s “a whole crew” working hard to help the city get its well six project completed.
“After all the years that we’ve been trying to get it, I feel like we’re closer now than we ever have been,” Mayor Lewis said, with Councilman Adina Olivares adding that there’s now a “cohesive” group that’s working on this.
Councilman Jeff Hensley expressed his confidence in all the work the city has been doing to get water and funding issues accomplished, and Mayor Lewis added how “refreshing” it’s been to see McGuire and Burns on conference calls when he stops by City Hall.
In other business:
- Burns reported a theft of service on Halloween when an unidentified individual tapped into Sodaville’s exclusive hydrant in Lebanon and stole about 1,500 gallons of water. Burns has since put a chain and lock on the hydrant.
- Burns reported the City of Lebanon is moving away from metered hydrants to be replaced by a filling station at the north end of the city, but will maintain Sodaville’s hydrant, which Sodaville uses when it needs to purchase water from Lebanon.
- McGuire reported the city is working on communicating to citizens information about the Total Maximum Daily Load, which is essentially how to keep outgoing/storm drain water as clean as possible as it makes its way to the river system.
- Resident Dale Ross made a suggestion to help conserve water by rationing low-rate water to households based on number of household members. Once the household’s ration is used up, the cost for more water would be significantly higher for the house. Mayor Lewis said they’d take his idea under consideration because “we’re at the point where we’ve got to do something because we’re losing so much money.”
- McGuire informed Councilman Joseph Parsons that some people donated gravel to fix a road he’s wanted fixed for a while now.
- Mayor Lewis introduced Tony Flanagan to the council. Flanagan is interested in joining City Council.
- McGuire announced unofficial election results: Mayor Brian Lewis was voted in for another two-year term, Councilman Olivares also returns, and there were 13 write-ins for a vacant seat. Councilman Hensley did not run for another term this year; he said he got on council as a write-in eight years ago. December will be his last month in office.