Water Board Works Through Several Projects

No announcment yet on who will lead the Oskaloosa Water Department

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Oskaloosa Water Board met in regular session on Monday afternoon, beginning at 4:00 pm at the water department.

The Board approved the invoices and financial statements for the past month and then heard from customers in consideration of billing.

One of those was along Suffolk Road, and the department had billed the homeowner for the minimum amount of 2 units per month, but because of a technical discrepancy, it was found the homeowner had used 24 units of water.

The department took off the 10 units of water the homeowner had paid for, but she would be billed for the remaining 14 units.

The updated policy will now have water department personnel checking on readings sooner when a customer shows minimum billing consistently.

Another customer approached the board to find out if they could fill their pool using a meter from a fire hydrant. This would avoid the sanitary sewer charges.

The water department does have meters for use on hydrants, and there is an option for homeowners to have two meters. The second meter that doesn’t charge for sewer rates has some requirements. There is a minimum monthly charge for that meter as well. That meter has to stay active the first year it’s installed, paying the minimus for the first year all year long. After that, the meter can be shut off during the winter months.

The board approved the payment of $69,021.11 for work along A Avenue East. Boring operations are underway to install new water lines.

Interim General Manager Matt Van Wyk said that concrete would be poured soon to allow the street to reopen North L Street and B Avenue West.

A consent waiver agreement with Ahlers and Cooney was passed. No concerns with possible conflict were perceived in joint work with the city of Oskaloosa.

The board also adopted a professional services agreement with Garden and Associates for distribution line upgrades on the Edmundson North Project.

For the wastewater collection system, Van Wyk reports the department was busy with excessive rain events, with several calls for basement back-ups and manhole covers off.

Televising of sewer lines has been done to investigate sinkholes that have shown up, and is getting a cost estimate to repair an exposed sewer main due to a storm culvert collapse. They are using temporary stabilization on the problem until a permanent fix is implemented.

For wastewater plant operations, it’s reported that an automated valve failed that controls flow to the EQ Basin at the north plant. The department is pricing the replacement for the valve.

Staff also replaced bearings on north plant raw pumps as well as replaced two solenoids that actuate the valves.

Due to the heavy rains, the treatment plant did experience several days of bypassing, and all reporting to the DNR has been taken care of.

For stormwater operations, the staff has worked on keeping intakes open and functioning. Work has also been started on the Edmundson Park storm line project, but that was delayed due to weather.

For the water distribution system, there were three leaks within the past two weeks. Two of them were along Highway 23, while the other was located at 1102 A Avenue East.

Staff will work to replace the chain on a basin at the water treatment facility north of town. In order to do so, two basins were taken down and semi-annual maintenance was then performed. It was discovered during that maintenance process that drains were plugged on the basins. The drains were jetted and made operational once again.

During the past month, 42 water meters were replaced, and there was 50 water shut offs performed, which is down 20 from the previous month.

No announcement at this point in regards to who may be filling the General Managers position.