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Treatment, pumps and watershed activity: board hears updates on Meramec turbidity, pump replacements and watershed projects
Summary
Staff reported progress on high-service station conversion and pump replacements, outlined steps to address turbidity and biofilm at the Meramec River plant, and summarized watershed maintenance and a 70-acre Eaton Hill conservation acquisition.
Treatment and operations staff told the Board of Water Commissioners on Feb. 27 that work is underway on several capital and maintenance items, and that staff expect installations and repairs to continue into the spring.
Jeremy, the treatment lead, said concrete work for the high-service station conversion (the new chlorine dioxide area) is about 75% complete and crews will begin installing coatings and bulk chemical tanks after that work. He said remaining HVAC, mechanical piping and electrical work is planned for next year and that the design and installation schedule will push major spending into later budget cycles.
Jeremy said two raw-water pumps (numbers 3 and 5) are essentially ready to install once factory acceptance testing is complete; staff expect installation in the March–April timeframe. A finished-water 5-million-gallon-per-day pump at the lake plant is in a similar stage awaiting factory testing.
At the Meramec River plant, Jeremy described recurring turbidity increases during high-flow operations and told the board that staff had scheduled a contractor to drain, disinfect and scrub the collector well and caisson to address apparent biofilm. "We super-chlorinated that a couple different times," he said, "and discharged before starting the plant back up; biofilm was a very short-term solution." He said divers with cameras confirmed film on the concrete caisson and that dewatering and scrubbing should allow a closer inspection and help restore efficient filter run times.
Guy, distribution superintendent, reported system maintenance including seven leaks since the prior meeting, hydrant shoveling and valve checks. He said engineering staffing remains thin — the department is down to one engineering inspector — and that engineering records work is ongoing to update the asset management system.
Watershed manager John reported active winter recreation and stewardship work: snowmobile trails are open and groomed for the first time in several years, staff are doing brush-clearing along water-main easements, dam safety monitoring and raw-water sampling, and a new contractor has begun work on a 70-acre timber/forestry project at Hilton Homestead lot on Spofford Road. John also said the agency is closing on a 70-acre Eaton Hill acquisition in Auburn as part of a larger conservation easement effort that he said came at no cost to the waterworks because of land-protection swaps.
Board members asked for further detail on turbidity corrective actions and timing; staff said a diver and contractor work is scheduled the following week and that they expect a multi-day effort to disinfect and restart the plant.
Distribution and watershed activities, pump replacements and treatment plant repairs were presented as progress items; the board did not take separate substantive actions beyond approving routine invoices and authorizations elsewhere on the agenda.
