(May 5, 2016) Hoping to find a solution to the continuing but intermittent water problems in Pocomoke Heights, as well as other areas of town, the City Council voted Monday to tap into a line of credit from a local bank to initiate a hydrodynamic study of the system immediately. The loan will be repaid with a bond issue during the next fiscal year.
In the town’s fiscal 2017 budget, $86,000 had been set aside to pay for the study, but rather than wait for the calendar to change, the council decided to strike first.
The line of credit, City Manager/City Attorney Ernie Crofoot said, was “more than enough” to pay for the study outright and can be reimbursed at a lower interest rate through a bond issue later.
The city, Crofoot said, would use Salisbury-based GMB LLC consultants to perform the work. The project would not be put out to bid because of GMB’s ongoing relationship with the town and its familiarity with Pocomoke’s water system, Crofoot said.
“When the water leaves the plant, it doesn’t have these problems,” Crofoot said. “When we test in different locations, it passes all the things the state says to measure for. We don’t have violations.”
If the problem isn’t with the plant, then the council believes the issue must be in the distribution system, Crofoot said. The problem with that is no map of the distribution system exists.
“We know where the valves are — we turn them on and off” in an attempt to replicate the findings of area residents, he said. But, unless and until a full diagram of the system is produced, the city doesn’t really know what it’s looking at.
“The mapping is needed irrespective of any problem,” Crofoot said. “The other piece is a hydrodynamic study to tell us how the water is flowing within that system.”
One theory as to why residents are complaining of more sediment and an aroma of rotten eggs in their tap water, attributed to high iron sulfide levels Crofoot said, was the installation of a 10-inch water main a few years ago to service commercial properties along Route 13.
That pipe, he said, draws significant pressure from the system, leaving other areas with less pressure, which allows sediment to build up and bacteria to grow within the distribution lines.
The city already installed pumps to help mitigate the pressure problem four or five years ago, Crofoot said, and while they have helped, those pumps aren’t the solution.
“We’ve had problems for a long time, and we’ve had issues to address in our water treatment facility with regards to maintenance and spare parts. Having addressed these issues, the water system is next,” he said.
In the town’s fiscal 2017 budget, $86,000 had been set aside to pay for the study, but rather than wait for the calendar to change, the council decided to strike first.
The line of credit, City Manager/City Attorney Ernie Crofoot said, was “more than enough” to pay for the study outright and can be reimbursed at a lower interest rate through a bond issue later.
The city, Crofoot said, would use Salisbury-based GMB LLC consultants to perform the work. The project would not be put out to bid because of GMB’s ongoing relationship with the town and its familiarity with Pocomoke’s water system, Crofoot said.
“When the water leaves the plant, it doesn’t have these problems,” Crofoot said. “When we test in different locations, it passes all the things the state says to measure for. We don’t have violations.”
If the problem isn’t with the plant, then the council believes the issue must be in the distribution system, Crofoot said. The problem with that is no map of the distribution system exists.
“We know where the valves are — we turn them on and off” in an attempt to replicate the findings of area residents, he said. But, unless and until a full diagram of the system is produced, the city doesn’t really know what it’s looking at.
“The mapping is needed irrespective of any problem,” Crofoot said. “The other piece is a hydrodynamic study to tell us how the water is flowing within that system.”
One theory as to why residents are complaining of more sediment and an aroma of rotten eggs in their tap water, attributed to high iron sulfide levels Crofoot said, was the installation of a 10-inch water main a few years ago to service commercial properties along Route 13.
That pipe, he said, draws significant pressure from the system, leaving other areas with less pressure, which allows sediment to build up and bacteria to grow within the distribution lines.
The city already installed pumps to help mitigate the pressure problem four or five years ago, Crofoot said, and while they have helped, those pumps aren’t the solution.
“We’ve had problems for a long time, and we’ve had issues to address in our water treatment facility with regards to maintenance and spare parts. Having addressed these issues, the water system is next,” he said.