(Harlan) Last week the Harlan Municipal Utilities Board of Trustees granted the authority to stay in touch with Regional Water and participate where they can in a feasibility study.
The study looks into routing treated water from the Council Bluffs Water Works to tie in with Regional Water in Minden. This project allows for an additional water backup supply for the City of Harlan.
Last week, HMU announced the implementation of its’ Water Conservation Policy and Water Watch effective April 1. HMU CEO Ken Weber says the city is under a water supply constraint. He says the water level in the aquifer continues to decline. “They anticipate the tie-in with Council Bluffs would potentially provide one million gallons of water per day into Regional Water,” stated Weber. “Then, if the feasibility study shows the viability-HMU already has a tie-in with Regional Water southeast of town. So this could provide a primary supplemental or backup water source for HMU.”
The feasibility study would call for a 10-inch line from Underwood to the Minden tower. However, this backup water supply wouldn’t be available this summer.
The board of trustees also learned the Well Field Electrical System Upgrade is going from a three-phase to a single-phase. Ken Weber says some of the three-phase materials are unavailable until late this year, delaying the construction of the water well expansion project until the spring of 2023. Additionally, the single-phase reduces the cost of the project. “Not only has the potential to reduce costs but also gets us into the area those single-phase products are more readily available than the three-phase we were originally looking at,” said Weber.
The Well expansion project provides for all new piping in the wellfield. The old piping is corroded, and in some cases, an eight-inch main is reduced to two inches, thus cutting down on the water volume. The project involves all new piping and the addition of four new wells. “This will get us back to where we should be with the demand, reserve, and the provision for fire protection,” said Weber. “We currently push the limits are fire protection quite a bit during peak demand. This project will give us more breathing room.”
Weber says the goal is to bid out the project in June, construction starting in September, and completed during this calendar year.
