FORT FRANCES—With the restriction on non-essential outdoor water use now in effect for the next 10 weeks, local residents still may get a chance to water their gardens and flowers on a limited basis—depending on whether an analysis of water use indicates it’s feasible.
Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown said yesterday he should know by June 9-10 whether or not it’s possible there’s water to spare within the distribution system while the water tower is out of service—and the town’s water storage capacity is reduced by 52.7 percent.
Brown explained that once the water tower goes off-line, he’ll be looking at consumption and reservoir (or “clear well”) levels at the water treatment plant, keeping in mind a certain amount of water always must be accounted for to do “backwashes” and clean two sand filters a day at the water treatment plant as part of the normal process there.
“We’re going to watch how the plant runs,” Brown noted. “The maximum capacity the plant can run is 197 litres/second.
“If we can’t keep up, and we’re putting water out into the distribution system, and our ‘clear wells’ lose ground—in other words, we can’t manufacture water any faster—we won’t have any water capacity for a fire if it happens,” he explained.
“We’re going to be looking at the level in the ‘clear wells’ at the water treatment plant, plus the demand,” added Brown. “Is there is a window where, after the backwashes are done and the clear wells are full, we can manufacture more water to meet the demand [to water gardens and flower beds]?”
Brown stressed he will not be able to say one way or the other until June 9 or 10.
The draining of the water tower will begin tomorrow (May 29). It will take several days to drain, with the water tower not expected to be off-line (i.e., empty) until June 3 or 4.
Brown then will need several days, including a weekend of activity, to look at the numbers and get a better picture of the water supply and demand.
He said if residents are allowed to water their gardens and flower beds, it will be during a specific time on an odd/even day schedule (for example, from 7-10 a.m. on an odd day).
The topic also came up at Monday night’s council meeting.
“There is sensitivity towards the people who are avid gardeners and flower growers within the town, and I know that’s probably the overwhelming majority of the town,” Fort Frances CAO Mark McCaig said.
“We are going to endeavour, when the tank is shut down, within a short time period, to examine and evaluate and analyze the consumption pattern under the water restriction to see if we can [come] forward with a specific time period during the day that we could allow watering of plants and flowers,” he said.
“Not necessarily yards, vehicle washing, that sort of thing. . . .
“I want everybody to know this mayor, council, and administration will be investigating it and doing the most reasonable, prudent thing that we can in this regard,” McCaig stressed.
“Let’s hope we can get a decision that would be acceptable to the citizens, as well as the council,” said Mayor Roy Avis.
Also Monday, council and administration reiterated to the public the importance of the upgrades to the water tower, which includes the preparation and painting of the interior and exterior, installation of a new boiler, and the relocation of chlorine equipment, as well as structural upgrades to bring the structure in line with new Occupational Health and Safety Act regulations.
Coun. Paul Ryan stressed the timing of the water tower upgrades is crucial, noting the exterior and interior coating systems to be replaced must be done in June and July.
Having worked with the MTO for 35 years, Coun Ryan said he’s dealt with coating like that to be used on the water tower, and “it’s not like painting the inside of your house.”
“It’s a proprietary coating process. It isn’t the paint that’s a problem, it’s the surface preparation,” he explained.
“In all cases with the MTO when we paint structures, it’s always during the summer equinox, where night temperatures are warm and the dewpoint is at a point where it allows you to paint this product.
“If you get into August or September, a lot of days you’ll only paint for one hour because of the dewpoint. The steel is cold, the day starts to warm up, and where does the dew and moisture go to? It goes to the surface of the steel,” added Coun. Ryan.
“It jeopardizes the whole schedule and sometimes goes into the following year.
“I’m totally in favour of doing it when we’re doing it because I’ve experienced this before, and I hope the people that brought their concerns to me understand why we have to do this.
“We all have to do this for one summer, then it will be forgotten about,” he reasoned. “We want to do this job right. This coating is very, very sensitive, and if we don’t do it right, we’ll back in five years doing it again.”
The coating treatment should last at least 50 years.
Coun. John Albanese said the town, with the help of a grant, is spending almost $750,000 on the water tower project and “wants to do it right” so they don’t have to do it again in a few years.
He added people have to trust Brown and other town staff that this summer project is necessary and will be “well done.”
Brown conceded while some people may feel the town didn’t give residents enough notice about the water restriction, he said the job wasn’t an absolute certainty until two weeks ago.
The water tower upgrades were included in the budget process started back in October. The town then applied for funding back in February, which was awarded on March 31.
The project then went out to tender in April and the contract was only awarded on May 12—the same date the 2008 budget was passed.
“Here we are on May 26, two weeks later,” Brown noted. “What if the contract would have came in at $2 million? I don’t think we would have painted the water tower.
“If it would have come in at an unrealistic number, we wouldn’t have been able to approve it,” he stressed.
“I just want to point out to people, it’s not that the town wasn’t trying to communicate,” Brown added. “There was a lot of things that had to happen to get us to this point.”
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
