President’s Report – November 2016

Winter is coming I am told but I haven’t seen much recently. The weather will cooperate and I am sure the cold will arrive. Meteorologists are predicting a La Nina winter, which is dry and cold. These are the same folks that predicted an El Nino last winter. So…. you are wondering? What’s the message?

CONSERVATION:

Conserving water is STILL an ok thing to do. The drought is not over despite last winter’s rain and the rain in October. (refer to the drought map on pg. 2)You are probably gettng tired of reading about this as I am gettng tired of writing about this but the drought is alive and well. If you are conserving, please continue to do so. If you are thinking of conserving, please do. If you are not conserving, please start. Also on page 2 in the Bubbler is the monthly bar graph which enables us compare water usage from January through October. Please note that there has been a growing increase. We must reduce the increase and I am asking you to do so. Thank you.

WINTERIZING:

This week, the evening temps are starting to drop. We are approaching pipe busting weather. Don’t be one of our annual statistics. Prepare for the cold that is coming. If you leave your home for more than a day, I would encourage you to drain your water pipes. If you are gone for more than 5 days, in addition to draining the system, place some Anti‐Freeze, that has been reduced with water to a ½ and ½ solution, into toilet bowls, holding tanks (flush ’em first) and a couple of table spoons of this magic formula into drains. It’s the best cheap insurance you will ever use.

BUDGET/ RATE INCREASE:

The Board reviewed the 2017 proposed budget, which was prepared by staff and the Long Range Planning CommiƩee (LRPC) and voted to approve this budget with a rate increase of 3.5%. The rate increase average of $2.30 per household per month will cover anticipated operating cost adjustments for 2017.

USDA LOAN APPLICATION:

The application for a $12.2M loan continues with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). We are moving forward in the final required appli‐cation stages. We remain very optimistic and anticipate the approval in January 2017. As you have read in past articles, the loan includes funding for older mainline piping replacement (which accounts for 75% of the total loan request), com‐pleting the metering of the entire system (currently about 30% is metered), additional fire hydrants and the replacement of older fire hydrants (some are 50 years old) and upgrades to our Water Treatment Facility just to name a few. Meanwhile we remain ever hopeful.

METERS:

We have completed Phase One of the current plan to install new radio read meters. Presently about 30% of the entire system is metered. We have tested the reading soŌware and it is working extremely well. The remaining meter installs and all related costs will be a part of the USDA project.

CCWD PARTNERSHIP:

We just completed our first contract year of water purchase with CCWD. All is running smoothly. While CCWD was in the process of replacing one of their main supply lines to the town of Arnold they had to temporarily cut off their supply. BLS provided water to the community, both residential and commer‐cial. The amount of the water provided was measured and BLS will be receiving a credit on their forthcoming monthly bill. The question came up recently, can we purchase all of our water supply from CCWD? The answer is yes but it would require payment of nearly 2M in capacity fees, in addition to the addi‐tional water cost.

NEXT DOOR:

Someone asked recently if we are on Next‐Door website? Yes, we are. We would ask that you call the BLS Office when asking questions re: your water service as the staff does not monitor the site continually.

TREE REMOVAL:

If you are planning to remove a tree on your property, please contact our office @ 795‐7025. We will have one of our field staff stop by and mark our water lines. If the tree service drops a tree and ruptures a line, yours or ours, we will hold the tree service accountable.
Bob Maginnis President