by Matt Hughes
J-E News Editor
The Webster County Water District board was in session Thursday morning in Dixon. For the third consecutive month water production in the county was up, but Superintendant Paul Lashbrook said the increase is due mostly to flushing of the lines.
“We’ve done a lot more flushing this year than we normally do,” he told the board.
At the board’s November meeting, held at the Water Plant in Onton, Lashbrook informed the board that the plant would be adding what he called a “magic additive” to the water treatment process. That additive, hydrogen peroxide, is expected to drastically cut the cost of water treatment.
“We have cut back to two thirds on our more expensive chemicals,” Lashbrook reported. “We are tracking how much we are feeding so that we can make adjustments.”
The two chemicals, sodium permanganate at the water intact and carbon at the plant, are one of the biggest expenses to the water district. Cutting back on those two by adding the much cheaper hydrogen peroxide could save the district a large sum of money. A savings that they have previously said will allow them to continue without passing on the cost of electric increases to the customers. Currently the district spends around $350 a day on chemicals.
The use of paradox is expected to cut the level of total organic carbons (TOC) in the districts water. TOCs are generally the result of leaves and other natural wastes that fall into the water being pumped by the district. After only a month the water plant has already begun to report positive changes.
“The water at the plant is just different looking now,” said assistant superintendent Robert Schindley. “It’s much clearer now, and we don’t need to feed nearly as much carbon.”
“What kind of environmental impact are we looking at when we flush the lines?” asked board chairman Jimmy Frederick.
“None,” said Lashbrook. “The peroxide is put in and taken out at the water plant.”
He finished by adding, “It’s still early to start putting numbers out there. We will save money with this, but we’re still in a test phase right now.”
In other business, Lashbrook reported that a water customer on KY 2839 was wanting her service line extended. Currently there is substantial distance between her water meter and her house, leaving the customer solely responsible for the bulk of the line. When the district moves a line at a customers request, the customer is responsible for a portion of the cost up front, but this customer was wanting to make payments.
According to Lashbrook, seven or eight years ago a similar request had come before the board. At that time the board had decided not to accept payments for services such as this.
“I don’t think we need to be getting into the banking business,” said board member Tommy Robertson. “If someone wants to loan her the money, that’s fine, but we don’t need to be in that business.”
“If we give someone the leverage to do this, they could take years to pay us off,” said Lashbrook. “By then the cost of the parts would have gone up.”
Lashbrook also told the board that the last time the issue had came up, Frank Ramsey at Dixon Bank had offered to loan the customer money for the work.
The board was in agreement that they could not change their policy of not accepting payments.
Earlier this year the district paid off one of it’s own loans. At the urging of Lashbrook, the board voted to move the existing balance in that account ($8,170) into the Operations and Maintenance reserve. The O&M account contains funds set aside to cover unexpected costs.
In July of 2014 the district also plan to payoff another loan. Currently the balance on that loan is $129,249.
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