Water District

by Matt Hughes

J-E News Editor

With the rising cost of electricity, energy saving was one of the primary topics of discussion for the Webster County Water District on Thursday.

“We’ve been trying to figure out ways to save on our electric bill,” said Water Plant Superintendant Paul Lashbrook. “We took a pretty big jump on our rates. And I’ve heard that Big Rivers is going to increase the rates to their wholesale providers.

“Pumping water is one of the biggest uses of electricity besides, maybe, an aluminum smelter,” said Lashbrook.

Possible options the water district is exploring include replacing lighting at the water plant near Onton with LED lights.

“In some cases Kenergy offers rebates for energy saving measures,” he reported. “We are exploring that, and we will let you know as we find out numbers.”

Lashbrook and Assistant Superintendant Robert Schindley also reported on their recent visit to the National Rural Water Association (NRWA) meeting in Louisville.

“There were 30,000 people there,” Lashbrook said. “We talked to other water systems. We can learn a lot from how they do things.”

“I’ve been doing this for 18 years and have never gone,” Schindley said. “It was a great opportunity to talk to people and get ideas from what they are doing.”

After spending three years in Louisville, the NRWA conference will spend the next two years in Seattle and Oklahoma City.

Schindley also reported that a project on Wilkerson Lane had been started. The plan is to lay 4,100 feet of three inch PVC. 2,000 feet have been laid already.

“Right where we’re going to make a road bore, we ran into solid sandstone,” he told the board. The rock bed is about 75 to 80 feet across. Boring the hole under the road was awaiting special equipment.

For only the second time in 2013, the water plant produced more water in the month of September than it did during the same period last year. The 30,080,000 gallons washed was 2,261,685 more than September of 2012.

Unfortunately, according to Schindley, most of that was due to a water leak.

For the year, production numbers at the Webster County Water District remain low. In the first nine months of 2013 production is 8,357,265 gallons lower than the production during the same period last year.

At the September meeting Lashbrook said the difference was due mostly to the cooler, wetter weather this year.