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Orderville water master plan: council hears SCADA, storage and testing updates
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Summary
Town staff walked the council through the May water master plan, highlighting recommended pipeline and storage upgrades, SCADA communications issues, cross‑connection prevention and monthly bacteriological testing; staff flagged a likely need to raise an antenna and to confirm reimbursement details for line relocations tied to UDOT work.
Town staff presented highlights from a recently completed water master plan and answered detailed questions from council members and residents about infrastructure, monitoring and regulatory compliance.
Burl (staff lead on the plan) summarized six recommended improvement projects, including SCADA upgrades, new well development, 8‑inch line improvements to improve fire flow, and storage and transmission upgrades toward Mount Carmel Junction and North Spring development. Burl said engineers adjusted water‑rights mapping and that the town currently has sufficient rights for projected near‑term development.
The presentation included system capacity figures: staff reported total existing storage capacity at just over 1,000,000 gallons and noted the projected required storage capacity in 2044 at about 580,000 gallons, indicating current capacity exceeds projected minimums. Burl walked through which tanks supply which areas and described recommended storage and pumping changes to improve fire flow and reliability.
Staff also described ongoing SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) telemetry work: operators use SCADA to monitor gallons‑per‑minute flow and tank levels; recent telemetry flatlining and alarm gaps suggest antenna and communications configuration problems. Burl said a remote technician and antenna adjustments are planned to restore reliable alarms and remote access; the state reviewer (Brandon Miller) was cited as the inspector who accepts the town’s reporting when telemetry is reliable.
On water quality and safety, staff reviewed the town’s cross‑connection prevention program and testing cadence: monthly bacteriological sampling at multiple sites, annual nitrate sampling and investigatory sampling as needed. They noted new federal/state attention on PFAS/PIPAs and described an upcoming monitoring schedule; staff said the town currently tests monthly for bacteria and would engage state resources should a contaminant be detected. Burl reminded residents about backflow prevention (e.g., keeping hoses out of troughs) and said operators take samples inside homes per standard practice.
No ordinance or action was adopted during the presentation; the council requested additional cost estimates and recommended that staff continue to refine SCADA alarms and obtain firm engineering estimates for any water‑line relocations that may be required by planned highway projects.