District Manager’s Report
As the new District Manager, as of July 7, 2008, for Chenowith Water People’s Utility District, I would like to introduce the professional staff of the District.
Administration/Human Resources – Patsy Busick, 10 years total experience with the District
Data Management- Lea Stephens 4 years experience with the district.
Jeb Miller- Senior System Operations, Water Distribution I, Backflow Prevention Officer- 4 years experience with the District
Nate Pope- System Operations, Backflow Prevention Officer, Cross Connection Inspector
Bill Van Eck- System Operations, Water Distribution III, 20 years in the Municipal water industry.
Sam Bishop- System Operations
The main focus since July has been to make Chenowith Water PUD water system more functional, reliable, efficient and improve water quality as a normal part of public health for the community. We have focused energies on providing source water improvements with the installation of a totally new well #4 including high tech controls which allows for the well to operate on a continuous basis and improved flows from 600 gallons per minute to nearly 1100 gallons per minute with no increase in motor size. Well #3 was refurbished with a new pump, column pipe and major maintenance on the motor.
With both major production wells being updated the District can look forward to decades of reliability in source water production. We have also established protocols with the City of The Dalles to utilize the hard pipe connection between the to systems in the event of an emergency. Backup manual controls were installed on the Iron and Manganese removal process for Well #4 in case the computer controlled process failed. The aeration basin at Well #3 was repaired, cleaned and updated with modern instruments for control.
Well #6, located at the main office site, was drilled and test pumped and will serve as a future water source and additional back up water in future budget cycles. The District also filed applications with the Oregon Water Resources Department to coalesce the various existing water rights into a unified and defined package.
The field staff has been trained in the operation of the System Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), the telemetry and computer side of operations that tracks water production, flows and reservoir levels and other parameters of the water system. This system allows the operators to turn on and shut down wells and adjust reservoir levels from the keyboard instead of driving to each site and manually making adjustments, thus increasing efficiency. The system also provides real time data on system hydraulics for making day to day operational decisions. Field staff are available on a 24/7/365 basis to respond to customer issues or emergencies.
Water quality and Public Health will always remain as a primary duty of the District. Field staff has been engaged in hydrant flushing, a process where the velocity of the water in the pipes is of sufficient speed to clean and flush the distribution piping. In additional to the flushing action, hydraulic data is recorded on each hydrant to determine its flow capacity and pressures and this information is shared with the Fire District. Any hydrants that are beyond repair are replaced with new modern design hydrants.
Cross connection and backflow prevention are terms used to describe when the normal flow direction and pressures are reversed or compromised, allowing for non-potable water to enter the distribution system. Underground sprinkler systems are an excellent example of a potential cross connection and must be protected with an approved backflow assembly. The district maintains a data base of backflow devices and has an active cross connection inspection system to locate potential cross connections to protect water quality in the community. As a compliment to both field and office staff, all personnel of the District have received First Aid and CPR
training.
Based upon the recommendation of an outside consultant, the District also adopted a new rate structure and fee schedule. The new rate structure is based upon just two parameters, the size of the meter and the amount of water that is measured by the meter. This rate structure gives each customer the ability to limit the monthly water bill by using good conservation practices in both the home and the irrigation of lawn and garden areas.
The 5 member elected Board meets the second Tuesday of every month and members of the community are encouraged to attend these meetings to better understand the profession of the domestic water purveyor.
Sincerely,
Roger Prowell, District Manager