HomeMy Public PortalAboutMcCall, Idaho: Public Works - WaterPAGE A-- 3 - -THE STAR - NEWS -- TUESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1985
Water rate ptan &put(A
By Randall Brooks
The Star -News
Charging that the McCall City
Council was once again singling
out businesses to support city ser-
vices, McCall business operators
began lashing out against a plan
to hike water and sewer rates as
soon as it hit the streets on May
29.
The battle continued until
Aug. 12, when the council settled
on a 28 percent hike for the ma-
jority of McCall's utility users.
Residential customers saw their
rates jump from $16 to $20.50 for
water and sewer service, while
commercial rates went from $18
to $22.50.
McCall's largest commercial
users, together with a group of
McCall trailer park owners, suc-
cessfully fought off an idea by
McCall City Administrator Jim
Smith to change to an
"equivalent user" system and
kept the option of having water
usage metered, but those rates
also jumped significantly under
the plan.
The standoff over utility rates
began in early June, when op-
ponents of the rate hike quickly
coupled with those involved in a
controversy over law enforce-
ment policies by McCall police.
The two shared television news
coverage by Boise stations that
had Mayor Clyde Archer and the
council in the hot seat for several
weeks.
On June 5, the McCall Area
Chamber of Commerce announc-
ed a demand for a 20 percent cut-
back in city spending and began
what turned out to be a six -
month battle over setting water
and sewer rates.
Businesses such as the Shore
Lodge complained that projec-
tions of Smith's equivalent -user
system showed their rates would
rise as much as 2,400 percent,
and they claimed their businesses
were being singled out unfairly.
Solutions to the problem began
as the council approved the ap-
pointment of a committee con-
sisting of Arcner, rainy Kite,
John H. Elliot, council members
Marion Johnson and Larry
Craig, and two members picked
by chamber of commerce presi-
dent Kay Larson, who were Ron
Goodman and Jane Volk.
�A REVIEW
A PERSPECTIVE ON. 1985
the
cenrral Idaho
star -news
Labeled as the Water and Sewer
Rates Study Committee, they
took on the task of arbitrating
the dispute and offered two plans
as alternatives to Smith's un-
popular proposal.
The controversy quickly spread
and intensified as it was learned
that the city had not billed some
commercial customers for 1'/2
years and failed to bill some com-
mercial customers at all.
The process of identifying and
eliminating the problems con-
tinued through the summer as the
city's budget process waited in
limbo.
In one dispute that is yet to be
resolved by the city council,
Shaver's supermarket questioned
the improper billing periods and
the accuracy of meter readings
listed on the billings.
The store, which uses large
amounts of water to cool its
refrigeration units, has threaten-
ed to take the city to court unless
a modification is made to their
bill of $6.684.94.
New City Administrator Bud
Schmidt said in a recent interview
that he and Shaver's manager
Larry Bouck had reached an
agreement based upon making
modifications to the store's water
usage program and the disputed
bill. That agreement will have to
be ratified by both sides.
Meanwhile, Schmidt said an
ongoing program to update the
city's utility billing system is pro-
gressing well and that few future
problems in utility rates should
occur.
State denies water -line grant
BY TOM GROTE
The Star -News
A request by the city of McCall
for a state grant to build a water line
has been denied, but the city is not
out of the running for the funds.
Mayor Larry Smith was notified
last week by the Idaho Department
of Commerce that the city's request
for a Community Development
Block Grant of $83,600 was turned
down by the state.
Statewide, a total of $6.8 million
in block grants was granted to 27
Idaho communities to fund construc-
tion of public facilities, housing and
senior citizen centers.
The grant would have been used
to replace undersized water lines
along Stibnite Street in McCall
with larger water lines. The larger
to McCall
lines would allow development to
occur along Stibnite Street, includ-
ing a 50 -unit low - income resident
housing project proposed west of
The Woodsman Motel.
The city's grant failed because the
low- income housing had not pro-
gressed far enough, said Kay
Frances, administrator of the
Division of Community
Development.
The project, proposed by Steven
Pierce of Boise, still needs city
planning and zoning approval, and
Pierce has not yet received financing
from the federal Farmers Home
Administration, Frances said.
However, Frances said that new
federal funds for the block grant
program likely will be available this
summer, and she urged the city to
send in a new application. An appli-
cation for block grant funds rarely is
turned down on the second try, she
said.
The McCall Planing and Zoning
Commission on Tuesday will hold a
public hearing on Pierce's proposal.
The hearing is set to start at 7:30
p.m. in the lower level of McCall
City Hall.
Of the 50 total housing units
proposed, a total of 16 would be
dedicated to senior citizen housing,
according to Pierce's application.
The project would be located on 4.5
acres fronting on Colorado Street.
Neighbors of the project appeared
at a public hearing on the block
grant application held last
November and objected to the city
paying $19,300 to match the state
grant. An additional match of
$20,000 has been pledged by the
owner of the Rustic Village
condominiums on Stibnite Street.
City officials argued that the es-
timated $50,000 in water hook -up
fees paid by Pierce for the project
would more than make up for the
city's share.
Middle school, juvenile
center water supply
subject of Friday meeting
MCCALL — A meeting here Friday will explore the options that
might be available to supply water to the new McCall - Donnelly Middle
School and the Valley County Juvenile Detention Center soon to be
under construction along Deinhard Lane east of Shaver's Marketplace.
McCall City Council member Bill Killen said Tuesday that the
issue is one for which there are no easy answers.
When city voters cast ballots to approve the nearly $10 million
water improvement project last year, there were no public projects in
the Deinhard Lane area that made what is known as the South Loop
water line a high priority part of the project.
"At the time the voters approved it, there wasn't any critical new
construction out there," Killen said.
The $10 million bond and the scope of the project that would be
paid for by the bond were approved by the prior McCall City Council
and city administration,'all of which has changed since then.
But Killen said that doesn't mean the prior council, which was
swept out of office by a vote by McCall residents to change the form
of government, erred in pulling the south loop out of the project.
They made their decision based on the information they had avail-
able at that time, he said.
"They were trying to address existing construction" with the water
project that would be covered by the approved bond, he said.
The south loop line was removed from the project with the con-
currence of the city's water system engineers, Toothman -Orton, as a
move to keep the bond amount below $10 million. City officials were
reluctant to seek voter approval for a bond above that amount as the
common belief was that it was a threshold number of sorts, above
which gaining voter approval would be very unlikely. The bond for
the water system improvements passe .
In the meantime, however, M -D school district
patrons, after five previous attempts, finally gave
their approval for a bond that would allow con-
struction of a new middle school on property the
school district has owned on the east end of Deinhard
Lane for some time.
And also in the interim, Valley County voters
approved a bond to build a new jail at Cascade and
a new juvenile detention center on county -owned
property along Deinhard Lane.
Because of the nature of both of those projects
— involving youths and their safety and a security
question as some in the juvenile detention center
will likely be "locked down" — it will be difficult
for officials to compromise on water flows. There
has been some compromise with other new com-
mercial construction that's been allowed along
Deinhard to the east of Idaho Highway 55.
Killen said the present City Council has been
scrutinizing all projects in the city with regard to
water flows.
"That concern has become kind of a standard
issue anytime a proposal comes before us," he said.
And water flows, and what's permissable varies
by area of town. Some areas have adequate flows,
while other areas only a few blocks away, don't, he
said.
"We're looking at it case by case," Killen said.
Even before the school issue came up, he said,
part of the Council's drill has been to verify what
demands every project makes on the city's water
system and infrastructure.
"I think the south loop situation brought it into
focus with so many things going on at once within
a few blocks of each other," he said.
"I think everyone recognizes that lacking a wind-
fall of big numbers from somewhere, whatever we
do is going to be temporary," he said. "The bottom
line is that south loop requires a chunk of change."
"There's no solution other than to find enough
money to fund it," he said of the south loop. And
then the challenge will be to get the pipes in and
have the water available at about the same time those
projects are completed.
"It'll get done, but whether it gets done at the
same time, I don't know," Killen said.
Scheduled to attend Friday's special meeting are
representatives of the M -D School District, the Valley
County Commissioners, City of McCall officials,
and engineering representatives.
--r air /i/er w 5 - J / Y -:I- /, 19 1� ti
School., juvenile center lack water
BY TOM ki "
The Star -News
Payette Lakes Middle School and
the new Valley County Juvenile De-
tention Center in McCall will not
have enough water for fire protec-
tion if they open in the fall of 1995 as
scheduled, the McCall City Council
was told last week.
Council members were told by
its engineers last Thursday that the
middle school and detention center
are planned for an area along Dein-
hard Lane where water pipes are too
small for fire protection.
Fire codes require commercial
buildings to have water flows avail-
able of at least 1,500 gallons per minute
in order to put out a major fire.
$3.3 million bond issue for new jails,
including the McCall juvenile deten-
tion center.
"The development pressures are
much more than when the water bond
passed," Orton said.
The cost of the new water line is
about $400,000, and much of that cost
is scheduled to be paid by private
developers, including the builders of
Spring Mountain Ranch and The
Woodlands, Orton said. The school
district also will be building a section
But under the best of circum-
stances, the eight -inch water lines
now along Deinhard Lane can pro-
vide no more than 950 gallons per
minute, said Rick Orton of
Toothman -Orton Engineering of
Boise.
Excavation for the 55,000 square -
foot Payette Lakes Middle School
has begun on a site near Deinhard
Lane and Samson Trail. Meanwhile,
ground - breaking is planned this fall
on the juvenile detention center at
the current site of the county's recy-
cling center.
The city's master water plan calls
for 12 -inch lines to be built along
Deinhard Lane and connecting into
the city's planned water treatment
of the line as part of the new school.
But adequate watei supply,yvill not
be available until the water- treatment
plant is completed, and that is not
likely until the summer of 1996 at the
earliest, he said.
The situation means the school and
detention center could be without ad-
equate supply for a year or more. The
facilities may not be able to open
unless a wavier of fire codes is ob-
tained or a temporary water supply is
found, Orton said.
Peter O'Neill, developer of Spring
Mountain Ranch, told council mem-
bers they should be working now to
come up with an interim plan.
O'Neill said creative ideas were
needed, and he suggested filling up a
gravel pit along Deinhard Lane with
water for use as a reservoir in case of
a fire.
Council members assigned its staff
members to explore solutions, includ-
ing seeking grants to accelerate build-
ing the new water lines and investi-
gating whether a waiver of fire codes
could be obtained from the State Fire
Marshal's Office.
plant inside the Spring Mountain
Ranch development, Orton said.
City voters in August 1993 passed
a $9.9 million bond issue to build
the treatment plant as well as re-
place many undersized water lines
in the city.
But the section of 12 -inch line
that runs by the school and jail sites
was taken out of the bond issue by
the city council in order to keep the
total below $10 million, Orton said.
Since the water bond was passed,
voters in the McCall - Donnelly
School District approved a $6.1 mil-
lion bond issue last December that
included the middle school. In May,
Valley County voters approved a
McCall
Clubhouse —
®JUVENILE
DETENTION
CENTER SITE Graphic by Tomi Grote
Deinhard Lane
Color shows proposed water lines.
/ /c°W 5 - % %J;,,v 97
McCall doubles fees
for water hook-ups
BY JEANNE SEOL Construction on the water treat -
The Suv -News ment plant and new water lines con -
The price of hooking up to the City tinues, while 75 percent of water
of McCall's water system will nearly
double on March 1 as the city struggles
to pay for its improved, $11.2 million
water treatment system.
McCall City Council members last
Thursday approved a hike in the city's
water system "buy -in" fee, the one-
time fee new homeowners, condo-
minium and business owners pay for
a dwelling or building to be con-
nected to the city's water system.
The flat fee was set at $3,750 per
connection, plus an estimated $650
paid to the city for labor and installa-
tion costs. The fee was increased from
a previous charge of $2,250 per con-
nection.
Condominium developments must
pay a separate $3,750 fee for each
unit, while multifamily housing
projects will be charged by the num-
ber of kitchens included in a project.
Charges for hotels and motels will be
individually assessed by the city coun-
cil.
The fee increase stems from a dra-
matic increase in the value of the
city's water treatment system, City
Clerk Jim Henderson said.
The city's "buy -in" fee is calcu-
lated by dividing the value of the
city's water system by the number of
users. Because the value of the sys-
tem increased, connection fees also
had to be raised, Henderson said.
"In the last two to three years,
we've pumped between $8 million
and $9 million into the system,"
Henderson said. "The old fee was not
covering our costs."
In 1993, city voters passed a $9.9
million bond to help pay forcity water
improvements. The bond was ex-
pected to pay for a new water treat-
ment plant, larger water lines and
individual water meters in homes and
businesses.
meters have been installed, Henderson
said.
Those meters have changed the
way the city charges for its monthly
water use for businesses. Commercial
monthly fees are now set at a flat rate
of $24 per month, plus 60 cents per
gallon over 3,000 gallons. Residen-
tial rates are set at a flat fee of $22 per
month for unlimited water.
As "buy -in" fees are increased,
monthly water rates will also increase
"substantially" in order to pay for the
new system, though no hike in the
city's monthly rate has yet been fig-
ured, Henderson said.
"The news is not good, but it
shouldn't be too much of a surprise,"
Henderson said.
If McCall did not charge hookup
fees or receive revenue from interest
on reserve funds, city water monthly
rates could be as high as $55 per
month, Henderson said.
McCall is not the only city in Idaho
facing increased water hookup fees
and higher monthly rates.
In Hailey, residential monthly rates
have increased by $4 since 1993.
Homeowners there currently pay $16
per month for city water. Hookup or
"buy -in" fees in Hailey have also in-
creased by $350 since 1993, with rates
currently set at $2,184 per connec-
tion.
In Cascade, residential monthly
waterrates have increased from $14.40
in 1993 to $25 in 1997. Commercial
monthly rates are currently set at
$39.25 per month. Cascade's one-
time hookup or "buy -in" fee is $600.
The City of Cascade is currently in
the process of putting in new wells
and the city's water users will begin a
new, metered system and rate plan
this summer, City Clerk Marlene
Kennedy said.
Rate increase
steams McCall
water users
"People have no idea of
how much water they
really use. Now they do. "
— McCall City Clerk Jim
Henderson
BY JEANNE SEOL
The Star -News
Officials at McCall City Hall were
besieged by more than 100 calls and
complaints this week after city resi-
dents opened their June water bills.
The water bills, sent out last Tues-
day, marked the first time residents
were charged according to how much
water they used, instead of paying a
flat rate. of $22.
Alana Shoemaker of McCall saw
her bill triple to $65, and she's not
happy about it. "June was a wet month.
I only watered my lawn once. I don't
even want to know what July's bill is
going to be," Shoemaker said.
Other residents saw their bills in-
crease, even those who knew that
meters were going to turn on and
started conserving water in May.
Joan Norrdin of McCall said that
after living for 15 years in California,
she is used to using as little water as
possible. "We brush our teeth with
one glass of water," Norrdin said.
Even so, she used 10,000 gallons
of water in June and saw her bill
increase to $35. "I don't understand
how we could have used 10,000 gal-
lons," Norrdin said.
Residential bills are now based on
meters that measure how much water
a home uses. Residents pay a flat fee
of $20, plus $3 per every 1,000 gal-
lons of water used over 5,000 gallons.
Commercial users pay $29 per month
plus $3 per every 1,000 gallons used
after 8,000 gallons.
City Hall Utility Clerk Linda Har-
ris, who handled most of the waterbill
objections last week, said complaints
are still coming in. Most residents are
not upset about the new rates - they
just can't believe they are using so
much water, she said.
City Clerk Jim Henderson has sat
down with many residents and showed
them the average amount of water
used in a home is about 12,000 gal-
lons a month. Henderson said people
"have no idea of how much water they
really use."
"They don't have any concept of
what watering the lawn three times a
week does," Henderson said at last
Thursday's city council meeting.
"Now they do."
City council members said at last
week's meeting that they, too, have
been plagued with complaints from
their friends and neighbors. The city
council approved the new rates in
May to pay for the city's new water
system and water treatment plant.
Under the old rates, the city would
not have been able to pay back $9.9
million worth of bonds passed by city
voters in 1993 to improve the city's
water system.
Mayor Bill Killen said at last
week's meeting that the new rates
have changed him into a water con-
server. "There's a five - minute limit
on showers at my house now," he
said.
But limiting showers to just a few
minutes is not going to solve
Shoemaker's problems, she said, be-
cause she has thousands of dollars
worth of landscaping surrounding her
house that she must water. "I just
can't let all of those plants die," she
said.
Instead of charging residents by
the gallon to water their lawn, Shoe-
maker would like to see a separate
irrigation charge levied on residents
every month.
"Otherwise this town is going to
turn ugly," she said. "People are go-
ing to let their lawns die because they
can't afford to pay their water bill."
But using water metering is the
only fair way to bill water users,
Henderson said, because the people
who use the most water should pay
most of the bill.
Henderson has ordered pamphlets
from the American Waterworks As-
sociation that show residents how to
conserve water. He said that informa-
tion should be available at McCall
City Hall within the next two weeks.
Idaho Rural Water Association to help
out with McCall water problems
MCCALL — Staff members of the non -profit Idaho
Rural Water Association are expected to begin work
next week trying to resolve some of the problems that
have surfaced with the City of McCall's water system
and water rate structure.
Don Munkers, director of the IRWA, told a group
of 130 concerned citizens here Monday evening that
his organization, which is not a government agency,
will do a water rate analysis for the City of McCall in
an attempt to find out why rates are so high.
"I think we can help you out and solve the prob-
lem," Munkers said.
That search for answers and solutions to what many
citizens believe is a case of government gouging them
to pay for a water system that is incomplete may not
take long, he said. His staff is now waiting for a certi-
fied test meter that can be used to test the electrical
water meters now installed around town.
That testing, which Munkers said can be done at a
rate of 5 meters per day, should begin next week.
Many residents, some of whose water bills have
been well into three figures, upwards of $500 in some
cases, believe a lot of the problem lies in the water
meters, which are read remotely by a city employee
who drives by in a pickup truck and reads the meter
using his computer.
But others who spoke at the meeting focused on
why the city is charging so much for water under the
guise of encouraging conservation of water.
One speaker said there's a contradiction there. City
Council members set the rates high to bring in enough
money to cover the costs of the $9.9 million in water
bonds sold for the treatment plant and associated water
lines. But if everyone conserves, the amount of money
generated by the sale of water won't be enough to cover
the cost of the bond.
Others questioned why the city is charging for water
that most have difficulty drinking straight from the tap,
whether it's safe without the filtration systems origi-
nally called for, but cut out of the project when bids
exceed engineers' estimates by $2 million.
Munkers assured those at the meeting that McCall
residents are not the only ones suffering financial and
other problems because of the mandates of the Safe
Drinking Water Act.
McCall Mayor Bill Killen said Tuesday that from
what he understands, Congress is going to review some
of the conditions of the act, in light of what's happen-
ing across the country.
That may lead to some financial relief, he said.
Others at the meeting discussed the city's budget
and an independent audit that the Citizens for Fiscally
Responsible Government wants done
Drop of Payette Lake water takes long journey
138 billion drops of water taken each day
c
(Note: This is the first in a series of stories following
ka drop of water through the city of McCall's water
and sewer systems.)
BY MICHAEL WELLS
The Star -News
Following a drop of Payette Lake water through the
k city of McCall's water and sewer systems reveals that
"',,something as simple as pouring a glass of tap water is a
`complicated process.
The city's water treatment plant
9 treats an average of about 1 million
gallons of lake water per day, said Mc-
Call Water /SewerPlantSuperintendent
John Lewinski.
During the year the plant will treat
a little more than 365 million gallons of
water, Lewinski said.
4 In the summer months, the plant has
: �' treated as much as 2.8 million gallons of
'r water. During April, the plant will treat
about 580,000 gallons of water per day, Lewinski said.
Based on38,000 drops of water in a gallon, anestaimted38
billion drops of water leave Payette Lake each day to be used
by city water customers. During the busy tourist season, as
many as 106.4 billion drops of water are used daily.
A drop of water can travel from Payette Lake through
more than 35 miles of water pipe within McCall's water
system before it enters into McCall's more than 30 miles
of sewer pipe that lead to the city's wastewater treatment
plant on West Deinhard Lane, McCall Water and Sewer McCall Water /Sewer Plant Superintendent John
Superintendent Levi Brinkley said. Lewinski checks a pump that sends water to a
torage tank on the city's east side.
Drop Pipes Meet at
the Golf Course
(Continued from Page 1)
The time it takes for a
single drop of water to make
this journey depends on the
time of year. The journey is
much faster during the sum-
mer months when the town's
vacation homes, hotels and
condominiums are filled
with seasonal visitors.
Typically, McCall water
customers are drinking
water that left Payette Lake,
the day before it comes out
of taps. In the busy summer
months, generally the water
coming out of, customer's
faucets; shower heads and
sprinklers left the lake that
day, Lewinski said.
Water enters the McCall
system at two locations lo-
cated off Davis Beach and
Legacy Parkin the southeast -
ern corner of the western
arm of Payette Lake.
The main water intake
pipe for the McCall water
system is located off Legacy
Park about 200 feet from the.
shore in about 50 feet of wa-
ter. It was built in the 1940s.
The 21 -inch intake pipe
takes in water that floods
a 15,000 gallon vault where
three turbine pumps, two
50 hp and one 75 hp pumps
push water through a 16 -inch
pipe up Pine Street to Wooley
Street.
The pipe then turns at
Davis Avenue to Divot Lane,
crosses under the McCall
Municipal Golf Course to
the weather station located
off the No. 9 Birch, where
it meets up with the Davis
Beach pipe in a three valve
cluster.
The Davis Beach intake,
which was built in the 1950s,
has 16 -inch and 12 -inch in-
take pipes at depths of about
40 feet in Payette Lake about
200 feet off the shore.
Davis Beach is used pri-
marily during the busier
summer months of July and
August.
At both beach intake
locations, Lewinski can
chlorinate the water to save
use of two anthracite filters
at the city's water treatment
plant on Bitteroot Drive.
As the water comes into
the Legacy or Davis Beach
intakes, Lewinski will add
one drop of chlorine per 26.3
gallons of water or one drop
of chlorine per 999,400 drops
of Payette Lake water.
The water then travels
through the pipes where it
eventually comes together
under the No. 9 fairway on
the Birch course, From there
the water goes to the treat-
ment plant.
(Next Week: Through the
water treatment plant.)
West side
water
hookups
limited
Only 107 new
hook -ups
allowed unless
improvements made
BY MICHAEL WELLS
The Sian -News
McCall's water system will only allow
for 107 additional water hookups west
of the North Fork of the Payette River
until improvements to the system can
be made.
City officials do not believe the limited
capacity of the water system will lead to
a building moratorium because there is
little activity duringthe current economic
slowdown.
The city has 980 water hookups it can
provide with its current system, but only
107 of those west of the river, McCall Public.
Works Director Peter Borner said.
The limitation only applies to new sub-
Hookups
(Continued from Page 1)
Installing a booster sta-
tion on De inhard Lane would
increase west side capacity to
1,218 new hookups, Borner
said.
A 700,000 gallon water
storage tank on the west
side of town would increase
west side water hookups to
2,900from today's remaining
capacity of 844, city docu-
ments said.
If the city were to upgrade
its water treatment plant to
1.5 million gallons per day
capacity, hookup capacity
would increase to 2,427, city
documents said.
Filter capacity at the
water treatment plant and,
backup power at the city's
Davis Beach intake location
are needed upgrades to the
system.
The city has 438 available
connections until the Davis
divisions. The city has already factored in
previously platted subdivisions to include
undeveloped, lots in Whitetail, River's
Crossing and other subdivisions on the
west side of the river.
The limitations are due to the city's
water system falling out of compliance
with Idaho Department of Environmental
Quality administrative rules.
Certain upgrades to the water system
would increase the system's capacity and
the number of hookups the city could al-
low in the future.
An upgrade to the Knowles Road boost-
er station would increase capacity on the
west side of the city to 524 hookups.
See HOOKUPS, Page 2
Beach backup generator
must be in place, said Jen-
nifer Beddoes of the city's
contract engineering firm
CH2M Hill.
The water system limita-
tions are now governed by a
similar system that governs
the amount of wastewater
hookups the city can al-
low due to capacity in the
city's wastewater treatment
plant.
Those limitations led to
a building moratorium in
2005 -06 during the area's
construction boom.
There are no plans to
build any of the improve-
ments in the city's proposed
budget for next year.
The city is currently
evaluating the projects to
make sure they have them
in the right order.
There are no cost esti-
mates for the projects, which
would be financed from the
city's self - supporting water
fund.
S /glu
I I -"toIruilt plash toidKes rayeiie LaKe Water ready to drink
IJthe city does not add soda ash to the lake water, it would corrode galvanized water pipes that are still
in use in many homes and businesses
(Note: This Is the second in a series of stories following a drop of water through the city of
McCall's water and sewer systems.)
By MICHAEL WELLS
The Star -News
McCall's water treatment plant on Bitteroot Drive on the east side of town treats an average of 38
billion drops or 1 r1illion gallons of water each day. This time of year, however, the plant can treat as
much as 2.8 million gallons of Payette Lake water per day.
The lake water enters the plant from a single pipe that can
take water from bath the Legacy and Davis Beach intake
lines that meet under the McCall Golf Course.
In the summer months, the water has already been
chlorinated before it reaches the water plant. The water is
pumped from the lake intakes with 80 pounds per square
inch of pressure from pumps operating in 15,000-gallon
vaults at both Legacy and Davis beaches.
By the time it reaches the water treatment plant, the
pressure has been reduced to about 45 or 50 psi due to the
distance and topography the water travels to the plant,
McCall Water Sewer Superintendent Levi Brinkley said.
i
Sta 14e photo by tdimad wells
McCall lCater- Sewer Plant Superintendent John
Ietrmski checks a tah a that regulates the flow of
l au tirater urin the citv's crater treatment plant ou
Bitten -mrit Drive
At the treatment pant, city water crews add soda ash to the water because Payette Lake water has a
low ,alkalinity and low ph level due to the area's granite bedrock, McCall Water /Sewer Plant
Sup,irintendent John Lewinski said.
If the city does not add soda ash to the lake water, it would corrode galvanized water pipes that are
still in use in many homes and businesses throughout town, Lewinski said.
Soda Ash Added
Eight milligrams per liter of soda ash is added to the water at the plant to prevent corrosion. The goal
is to change the ph level of the water to a range between 7.2 and 8 ph when it leaves the plant for use
by customers.
Lewinski then adds two coagulants to comply with the state's drinking water act. The coagulants help
remove viruses and bacteria when the water goes through a filter.
The city does not add fluoride to the water, Lewinksi said. The city stopped adding fluoride to the water
when the current treatment plant was built due to a group of concerned citizens who lobbied city council
for its removal due to health concerns, he said.
He also adds a polymer called diallyl dinethy ammonium chloride polymer and aluminum
chlorohydrate.
The polymer combines with viruses and bacteria that are in the lake water. Lewinksi adds this at a rate
of two parts per million to the water.
He then adds four parts per million of the hyper ion aluminum chlorohydrate to the water in a flash
mixer_ It tOO mixPC wifh tho wnfor nn 4 11#o to ....a: t :.., at.._ ..._.__
Water Filters
The city's water treatment plant is a direct filtration plant. Once the coagulants are added to the water
the water then goes through two ground anthracite filters that are about eight feet deep, Lewinski said.
In eight years of operation, the filters have lost three to four inches, he said.
Payette Lake water has a very low turbidity rate or amount of particles in the water. The lake water's
turbidity rate is about 600 times less than water used in Midwest water treatment plants, Lewinski said.
The filters collect the wruses, bacteria and dirt. During the summer months, water plant crews
backwash the filter every day. In slower seasons the filter is backwashed every other day, Lewinski said.
Next, the water is chlorinated at a rate of about 1.91 parts per million, or 1.91 gallons of chlorine per
every one million gallons of water.
On an average day, the plant uses 1.91 gallons of chlorine. in the summer months, the plant can use
as much as 5.3 gallons cf chlorine to treat as much as 2.8 million gallons of water.
Chlorine is used to kill :)ff waterborne diseases such as cholera and a -coli bacteria, Lewinski said.
The chlorinated water leaving the plant has about 1.91 parts per million of chlorine in it. The effects of
chlorine diminish as the water travels through the city's water pipes and Lewinski needs to have enough
chlorine killing off germs for water users on dead -end pipes far away from the plant.
From the plant, the chlorinated water now goes to a 750,000 gallon underwater storage tank located in
front of the water treatment plant on Bitteroot Drive.
From here the water w II be pumped at 85 to 90 psi inch pressure to the city's 1 million gallon east side
underground storage tank or to the city's water pipes.
Water that goes into the city's water pipes is also sent to the city's 400,000 underground storage tank
on the west side of the c ty.
The water is pumped to the storage tanks or water pipes by variable frequency drive pumps. If the
pumps cannot keep up the pressure leaving the water plant, then a fixed drive pump is activated to
maintain pressure in the lines, Lewinski said.
In slower months, sucl- as April, about two - thirds of the treated water goes directly into the city's water
main lines. The other one -third of water is cycled to the storage tanks.
Lewinski freshens the storage tank water by moving about 180,000 gallons of water through them
every 60 to 90 minutes.
ie1. A 1AJ- 1.• rA- ;__—, fn hnmcc onrl hjicirnaccac I
T: "cCail water travels quickly to homes, businesses
It lakes less than a second before drinkable water becomes sewage
(Note: This is the third in a series of stories following a drop of water through the city of
McCall's water and sewer systems.)
6Y MICHAEL WELLS
The Star -News
A drop of water leaving the McCall water treatment plant on Bitteroot Street could first go to a storage
tank on the east side of town or into water mains bound for homes and businesses in town.
The water in the storage tanks only stays in the tank for 60 to 90 minutes, McCall Water /Sewer Plant
Superintendent John Lewinski said.
The water in the city's water main pipes leaves the plant at about 88 pounds per inch of pressure, but
the pressure increases in the pipes as the water travels downhill, McCall Water /Sewer Superintendent
Levi Brinkley said.
The pressure increases in the pipes to about 101 to 105 psi. The pressure has to be reduced by either
sending the water through costly pressure reducing valves or through a cheaper bypass that achieves
the same result of reducing the pressure of the water in the line, Brinkley said.
About 90 percent of McCall's water goes through the cheaper bypass lines rather than the pressure
reducing valves, he said. The pressure reducing valves cost about $9,000, while the bypass line cost
snout $600 to replace, Brinkley said.
The city has 39 valves in its water pipes to reduce pressure. Adjacent to all of these valves are 2 -inch
o' 3 -inch bypass lines, Brinkley said. The valves and bypass lines reduce the pressure to about 43 to 45
Pit
Our drop of water that left Payette Lake is now traveling through the city's more than 35 miles of pipe.
Three Pipes Across River
These pipes are typically 12 inch, 10 -inch or 8 -inch in diameter. Residents west of the North Fork of
the Payette River get their water from one of three pipes crossing the river.
The line that feeds the 400,000 - gallon west side storage tank crosses the river near Shore Lodge.
One line feeds the storage tank, while another line delivers water to homes and businesses in the
area, Brinkley said.
There are places where the water pressure needs to be increased because the water has to travel
uphill or is far enough removed from the plant that the pressure is too low.
The water is sent to a booster station, such as the Knowles Road booster station, which is located in
the Whitetail Subdivision.
Centrifugal force powers the booster station instead of turbine pumps, Brinkley said. Water floods into
the booster station and is pushed out at 88 psi.
The booster station uses three small motors to push water back into pipes at a higher pressure. A 5
horsepower, 7.5 hp and 30 hp motor are ready to handle variable demands for water.
the 5 hp motor can deliver up to 160 gallons of water per minute, the 7.5 hp motor can deliver up to
3C0 gallons per minute, and the 30 hp motor is only used for periods of high demands for water, he said.
- -he motors have variable drives that speed up or slow down to maintain water pressure leaving the
booster station at about 88 psi, Brinkley said. The station also uses check valves to isolate the water on
the west side of the river, Brinkley said.
Potable to Wastewater
he drop of water has traveled through the city's water lines, but now it leaves the city's system for a
brief sf%y i- n home or business.
Tne water leaves the city's water main line and goes through a meter setter and then through a water
meter.
V� hen the water leaves the meter, it is now the responsibility of the property owner, Brinkley said.
Residential and business water service lines are generally 3/4 inch to 2 inches. The water may sit in a
water heater where it is heated or it may wait in the lines for a valve to open.
The drop of water this series is following drips out of a leaky faucet spending less than a second as
potable water. it hits the bottom of the sink and finds its way into the drain.
0 it drop of water is now considered wastewater.
(A'ext Week: The journey through sewer pipes to the treatment plant.)
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