HomeMy WebLinkAbout1975 09-09 Independent well system shunned by city consultant REVIEW Independent well
system shunned
ed
•
by city consultant
by Scott Carlson begun the development of a master meter
An independent system of scattered wholesale system for the city. The city
municipal wells is not advisable for the currently buys water from St.Paul Water
city of Maplewood, a consultant from Department on a retail basis.
Kirkham-Michael Associates told the city A final report from Kirkham-Michael,
council last Thursday night. with cost estimates for recommended
Instead it appears more advantageous improvements and a prioritization of
for Maplewood to continue with the St. projects, is expected within one month.
Paul water system and undertake several "If you go to a "tree" (independent
water improvement projects to meet the scattered well) system sometime down
water demands of Maplewood citizens the road it may cause you problems,"
and businesses, Gary Sindelar said. Sindelar told the council.
Those comments were part of Kirkham- Under the Safe Drinking Act, the first
Michael's advice in an interim water law ever passed to regulate water quality
report.
inthe Unite , "if you don't meet
The Kirkham-Michael firm was asked the sta dards youtescould be taken to court
for updated reports by the council after it, and sued," Sindelar said.
in April, rejected $10.4 million in water In 18 months the laws will be enforced
improvement projects,which would have and just how stringent secondary
guidelines will be remains to be seen at
this time, Sindelar indicated. Minimum
standards will be established not only for
nitrates and fulurides but pesticides and
bacterial counts, he said.
Should any community fail to meet the
standards, it would have to publish the
deficiencies in local newspapers and
publicize them on the TV and radio,
Sindelar added.
Sindelar indicated that should
Maplewood not meet standards under a
"tree system"(although he had no reason
that the city could not meet standards) it
would cost a lot of money to provide
treatment.
In explaining the technical concept of a
`tree system," the interim report states,
"In a tree system, wells are scattered
throughout the community and
discharged directly into the water
(Continued on Page 10)
Well system.. . .
(Continued from Page 1)
distribution system.Each well supplies a
sub-area of the community. Groups of
wells supplying areas of the community
at like elevations are associated with one
or more elevated storage tanks to provide
fire equalization and fire flow storage.
"No central treatment,quality control
or quality monitoring capability is
provided in a tree system."
If the city decided to establish a"tree"
system the 3M Company would have to be
automatically excluded since it depends
on treated water,Sindelar said.
In addition a tree system could be
implemented in only certain areas,Sin-
delar said. Those areas include that
portion of Maplewood south of the 3M
center, which
presently
populated, and the heaviest populated
area bounded by Keller Lake on the west,
County rd. D on the north,White Bear
ave.on the east and Larpenteur ave.on
the south.
But other areas of the city woulde
better handled economically bymaking
minor improvements, which in most
cases would include either installation of
bigger water mains, construction of
booster pumps or,in a couple of cases,
erection of elevated storage tanks, the
consultants said.
Sindelar,in his report,said that:
—THE HAZEL PARK pumping station,
which provides water to all of Maplewood
except the area west of Phalen and Keller
Lakes,is inefficient.
Under its present condition it requires
an increasing pumping capacity.
The area it serves is hounded by Keller
Lake on the wes`White Be nave.on Q the
he
east and County
high water demands from
and Mtheaplewood
Mall shopping
dense
residential development. area
Adequate water pressures
resscsin thecreatthe
��id be achieved by ity re the Hazel
amount of pumping pc
Park station and adding distribution lines
between the Hazel Park station and
Maplewood.
The improvements, i construct part, d
woulfwd
require Maplewood to
o
major water main lines between Lar-
penteur and Frost ayes.
—EVEN WITH SUBSTANTIAL im-
provements to both the StPult and
:Maplewood distribution systems
ap-
pears that "it will be essential for
Maplewood to construct an elevated
storage tank in an area bounded by
Larpenteur ave., County rd. D, Keller
Lake and White Bear ave-"
—A LONG RANGE solution for
providing adequate water pressure to new
residences north of the
o mp�n
complex can be accomplished
ne^ting up to the new Beebe rd.pumping
station,now under construction,north of
Larpenteur ave.
—'T APPEARS any future 3Company
by
im-
provements needed by Paul Water
can be provided y he
Department. q Q o !qr.,
-_THE SPARSELY developed area
Fouth of 3M can continue to be served by
St. Paul and the Hazel Parkpimmping
g
station provided that
facilities are provided.