Water Company Report for 2011

This was a very active year for the Water Company. We needed to use a portable generator for both hurricane Irene and the Halloween snow storm. Each incident involved an expense of over $2,000 for the rental of the generator, delivering and removing it, connecting it and refueling. We did run out of water for a day after the snow storm because road closures delayed the arrival of the generator. The situation was also exacerbated by the fact that during the winter months we are able to use only about one-half of the capacity of the storage tanks in order to preclude the freezing of the cross-over pipe between the horizontal and vertical tanks.

In order to preclude a loss of water in the future, we will take the following steps;

· Call for the generator as soon as we lose power for more than several hours.

· Fill the tanks to capacity if freezing is not an issue.

· Send out a phone alert to the community to conserve water usage.

Agra indicates that the DEP is considering mandating that all water systems have permanent, onsite back-up power systems. If this should happen, the cost to the community might be in the $25,000-$35,000 range. Unlike residential systems, the pumps require 3-phase power and it takes a lot of power to start the pumps when they are stopped. Much less power is required to actually run them once they have started.

Several months ago the pump in pump house 2 was temporally removed to repair a check valve that was letting air into the system. Some residents were getting air bubbles in their water for a short period after turning the water on. There were no health issues.

The DEP required in our annual audit that the flow meters in each pump house be recalibrated to insure accuracy. Both were beyond the regulated required time period. The meter in pump house 2 has been sent out for recalibration, but the meter in pump house 1 was very old and could not be recalibrated. Consequently, on Monday, 1/13 Highland Water replaced the flow meter in Pump House 1 and some heavily rusted pipe adjacent to the meter. The timing was fortuitous since one of the rusted pipes appeared likely to leak fairly soon upon examination when it was removed.

The annual VSA dinner will be scheduled shortly for the spring. VSAs visit each pump house daily for a week to check chlorine levels, record volumes and verify that there are no problems. It is a great service to the community. The delicious VSA dinner will be scheduled shortly to thank everyone. The fabulous cuisine is prepared by Bobbi Coulter and Carl Bonar.

I would like to thank all the VSAs and Bill Manser, Jim Irving, Ken Heiden, Mick Merenda and Newton White for their help with the Water Company. Anyone who would be willing to become a VSA, please contact me.

Submitted by

Rick Barrett