08 - Water/Wastewater Monthy Report

Home Browse Search

CITY OF PEQUOT LAKES MONTHLY WATER/WASTEWATER REPORT FEBRUARY 2007 Prepared by: Tina Nolden (Water/WW Operator) WATERPLANT: There was a power failure Feb. 5t',about 7 pm. Had to come in and reset everything at the Water Plant.No harm done. On Feb. 9t',Mark Hallan with WSN stopped in at the Water Plant and gave a very thorough explanation of how to regenerate the filter, as well as the overall workings of the treatment plant. Feeling confident that I could now complete the task, I went ahead and started the procedure late Sunday night,the 11 m. Monday morning I finished the procedure and got everything back online,nothing to it ...Or so I thought! Tuesday morning,the 13th, customers were calling concerned about their pink water. I ran downstairs to check the clearwell,and sure enough,the water was pink! I couldn't believe it. I called Mark Hallan and asked him what had happened. I felt I had done everything right. He explained that because it hadn't been done in such a long while, there was a higher residual of potassium permanganate left behind in the filter media. When the water sat in the filter overnight,that residual of potassium permanganate had turned it pink. He said to just backwash the filter again and everything would be fine. He also told me to let everyone know that the pink water wasn't harmful in any way and would just take a day or two to clear up. I called a few radio stations and asked them to broadcast the information. Backwashing the filter took care of the problem and everything was back to normal before long.Never a dull moment. We're having some problems with our hand-held meter-reading device,but Sensus Company is helping us take care of them. Also, Dean with Fargo Water has given us a loaner to use until ours is fixed and working properly, so we can still get our meters read in the meantime. While filling out our Annual Water Usage Report for the DNR, I noticed that the actual readings from the plant water meters were quite different from what the computer readings were showing. Rick Biter with AE2S checked things out on Feb. 27h and is currently working on how to get the computer to more accurately transfer the information. Until then,I am physically reading the meters and recording the actual usages for each month. WATER DISTRUBITION: Other than the pink water issue,things were pretty good this month. I replaced three water-meter frost plates due to frozen water lines, but those were an easy fix. We've received four proposals on water/sewer rate studies, and are looking them over to determine who, we believe, would be the best choice. Our Water/Sewer Committee will get together to discuss the different possibilities.