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WaterDistributionSystem

Water Distribution System February 21,2008



Sour Grapes and Saddle Sores

George Hirst

Water Distribution System February 21,2008

The system that delivers water to every house in Wyoming is a hundred and six years old. The system has worked well over the years, and, while upgrades have been added, the old parts of the system need replacing.

The first well was drilled and a brick and wood water tower was erected in 1902. Four inch cast iron pipes were laid throughout the town with an 8 inch cast iron main line laid in the down town area. In 1927, the tower was replaced by the present 75,000 gallon tank. In 1947. the present underground tank of brick and concrete construction was installed. Water mains were laid in Grove Street subdivision which was PVC six inch lines, an eight inch transit line was laid into the grade school building and a four inch transit line was extended along South Seventh Street to the city south line. Up grades were added: a reverse osmosis plant, which improved the water condition, in March, 1993, and the Emergency Power Generator was put on line, April ll, 2000

I think a major push to upgrade the system was the Christmas Eve fire at JES storage which nearly exhausted the water supply. Granted, big fires like that don't happen very often, but it surely shows how close we are to being short on stored water supply.

Mayor Sally Pepper was well spoken when she said that we need to keep the faith of the city fathers when they began the water service. That faith has shown itself in the way the new lines were laid down, the reverse osmosis plant was installed, and the emergency power source was purchased. This indicates that the Mayor and the City Council does well in looking after the needs of the town, plus, we are seeing growth in new home building.

Several people have attempted to explain to me how the upgrade came about and how it will be carried out. I thank Don McCaulley, water and sewer supervisor and Mayor Pepper for visiting with me to produce this advisory column. First of all, the engineering for this project, which has been ordered, will take six to nine months so it will be Fall, 2008 before anything is done.

As I understand the project in in simplest terms, phase one will replace three point five miles of water mains, construct a three hundred thousand gallon elevated storage tank to replace the present tank, and a one hundred thousand gallon ground water storage tank to replace the present one.

A federal grant has been offered as well as 40 year loan at 4.5 percent to fund Phase two, which will replace six miles of water mains and hydrants.

What I see as a major improvement is the replacement and relocation of water mains. The replacement of those 100 year old pipes would make the city maintenance crew a happy group, locating the leaks, tearing up streets and sidewalks takes up a lot of time. The four inch lines throughout the city will be replaced with six inch transit pipe that with new hydrants will provide better fire protection. Changing locations of some of the lines would be a convenience for everyone, and new shut offs will help. A helpful improvement is the production of city map that will locate all the pipes and shut offs, and will be on computer.

This column is "nutshell" report on the effort to date of Mayor Sally and company to keep the city of Wyoming updating the water services and , making this town a good place to live. There is a whole lot of effort still to go to see this project to its completion Growth and improvement always takes time and effort.

SourGrapesAndSaddleSores

Created by KKris. Last Modification: Tuesday 26 of February, 2008 11:49:18 EST by KKris.