Mostly clear. Low 71F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph..
Mostly clear. Low 71F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.
The Stillwater Utilities Authority is implementing a plan to make improvements to its water treatment plant, water storage and pipelines in phases.
The Stillwater Utilities Authority is implementing a plan to make improvements to its water treatment plant, water storage and pipelines in phases.
The City of Stillwater has been taking a hard look at its water system in recent years, from discussing problems with the aging pipeline that delivers raw water from Kaw Lake or maintenance for the water treatment plant that serves not just Stillwater residents, but the customers of several rural water systems.
The city councilors, acting in their capacity as the trustees of the Stillwater Utilities Authority, approved a contract Monday for Kaw pipeline repairs and got an update on planned upgrades for the city’s water treatment system as a whole.
City Engineer David Barth first asked for approval of a $356,000 bid bid for Kaw pipeline repairs. There are four known leaks in the pipeline, including one in an encased pipe that runs under US 177, making the repair complicated and difficult because it involved digging through rocks and working around overhead electric lines. For those reasons, the job is being outsourced instead of handled by city crews as usual, Barth said. The other three repairs will be packaged with it.
One of the leaks has created ponding on the surface that covers about 225 square feet of a wheat field. Barth said the other hasn’t produced much visible water, but when you stand over it, you can hear the pipe – buried about five feet below the surface – hissing.
The total price for making all three repairs is budgeted at $409,400, including construction and contingency. Utility Field Services, LLC from Chandler was awarded the contract. The money to cover the repairs will be taken from the SUA’s water fund, Barth said.
He expects the job can be done in 30-45 days but said repairs are complicated by not having another option for water.
“We’re limited on when we can take our pipeline down and how long we can take it down,” he said.
When Mayor Will Joyce asked about how often repairs need to be done on the pipeline, Barth told him leaks are not out of the ordinary.
“We’ve had 20, maybe 25 leaks in the last few years,” he said. “We’re kind of noticing a pattern with the leaks that are appearing at joints.”
There has been discussion with the consultants helping the city plan for its water needs about doing some kind of rehabilitation focusing on the joints on the pipeline.
It seems like a lot of work, but it’s much cheaper than replacing the whole pipeline, Barth said.
Barth also gave an overview of plans to meet future water needs, including making improvements to the current water treatment plant, to improve the Kaw pipeline and to access more raw water storage.
The trustees approved a slate of projects in December that are currently under design and should be ready to bid in the spring. Another project that would replace a system that protects the Kaw pipeline from corrosion has already been bid.
There is also a long-term plan to rehabilitate or replace the current water treatment plant.
In March, consultants recommended the City of Stillwater use Lake McMurtry for raw water storage and the trustees supported that. Other options were using Boomer Lake and constructing raw water storage near the WTP. That project also involves evaluating and making improvements to the Kaw Pipeline. Barth said staff is working to scope that out and wants to get started right away.
The plan recommended by consultants last year included a new water treatment plant capable of producing 24 million gallons per day, additional raw water storage at Lake McMurtryand improvements to the city’s raw water delivery system – at that time, it meant replacing the pipe on the Kaw Pipeline in four zones where pressure surges and upgrading the pump station at Kaw Lake.
The total estimated cost for all those projects was $350 -$400 million. Staff began looking at ways to pay for the project, and have secured and set aside about $40 million – roughly 11% of $350 million – so far through a combination of grants, federal funding and money from the water reserve fund.
They applied for several larger funding opportunities, he said, but Stillwater’s project was not selected. Staff will continue to look for opportunities as they present themselves.
“So we had to step back and look at how can we continue to reliably provide safe, clean drinking water to the community, now and in the future,” Barth said. “We’ve come up with a phased improvement plan that is in line with what we can afford now.”
The approach was based on recommendations made by a consulting firm that worked on previous projects at the WTP and the current consultant.
It’s broken into high and medium priority projects – the confirmed system projects already approved by the trustees include improvements to the recovered water pump station, improvements to the lagoons, a new caustic feed system, a new finished water pump station and a new cathodic protection system. Those projects were estimated at $25 million but yet to be bid.
The cathodic protection system is out for bid, and the others are in the design process and should be ready to bid in the spring.
The next priority is to develop the additional raw water storage capability at Lake McMurtry. It will require building a pipeline from the water treatment plant to Lake McMurtry and a pump station at Lake McMurtry. That provides a back-up supply and makes it possible to make improvements to the infrastructure from Kaw Lake.
“What this means is: We’ll be able to take the Kaw pipeline out of service for extended periods of time to do maintenance and upgrades,” Barth said.
It also allows the SUA to defer upgrading the Kaw pipeline’s capacity and its pump station.
Barth said he hopes to come back very soon with a request for a budget amendment to start designing that project.
Another $23 million in improvements includes upgrading the ozone and carbon dioxide disinfection systems, a complete replacement of the lime system (which started the whole discussion six years ago) and upgrades to the chlorine and ammonia system.
Once those are done the focus can move to medium priority items estimated at $26 million.
Barth said staff believes if they have the funding and the staffing they can do both high and medium priority projects totaling $171 million in the next five to six years. Funding will determine how quickly it gets done.
The upgrades are based on a 50-year plan that projects demand to increase.
Average daily demand in 2021 was almost nine million gallons per day, with a peak demand – the number seen on “the hottest, driest day of the year” or during a freak weather event like Ice Storm Uri in which water lines broke and many people were dripping their faucets – of 16.41 million.
That average daily number is expected to be more than 11 million by 2041 with a peak of more than 21 million and more than 16.5 million in 2070 with a peak of almost 31 million.
The current water treatment plant produces 16 million gallons per day with a maximum capacity of 18 million.
Staff is keeping future demand in mind and is looking at options that would give Stillwater a treatment plant capable of producing 30 million gallons per day in 2070.
City and county government, politics, health care
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