The City of Tipp City is learning that mutal cooperation can be a key asset in getting things done, no matter what the size of the project.
Fresh from their collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce for the Executive Director position, they are now announcing the completion of the Northern Area Water Authority (NAWA) Treatment Plant, another joint effort. This time the City of Vandalia is the associate.
A large group of staff from both cities as well as residents were on hand over the weekend for the grand opening of the water plant.
In the early 1990s, the Environmental Protection Agency declared that the water of Tipp City exceeded standards in iron and manganese. Up until that point, Tipp didn't treat its water at all - just pumped and chlorinated it. Utility Director Mo Eichman claims that the excess is an issue of aesthetics rather than bodily harm, but the EPA guidelines still have to be followed.
Down the road, Vandalia was getting their water from the City of Dayton. However, when Dayton raised their prices, Vandalia looked for other options.
Tipp City and Vandalia completed a feasibility study in 1993. After doing several studies, both parties decided it would be advantageous to their economy to build a plant together.
The NAWA joint venture was signed and the first Board of Directors meeting was held on March 8, 2002. After the EPA approved plant plans, construction began in July 2005.
After Hal Contractors laid six miles of pipe, a 15,000 foot raw water main, and a 7000 foot discharge line, Shook Construction completed the building and equipment and kept the project under budget.
"Shook has been good to work with," praises Eichman.
Since Dayton softens their water and Vandalia liked that quality, the new plant now takes the water from 22 to 23 grains down to eight or nine grains. That is done through a section of long white tubes called arrays. Each tube has six reverse osmosis filters in it and uses between 80-120 pounds of pressure to run the water through.
"The technology of nanofiltration has really advanced," explains Eichman, "We are able to remove anything on the EPA list."
Removing hardness is an all-or-nothing job, but water with zero grains in it would barely get the soap off your body in the shower.
"It's too aggressive," details Eichman, "Eight grains is a more stable type of water."
To prevent this, only seventy percent of the water goes through the softeners. It is then combined with the other thirty percent from the oxidation tanks. If needed, the water is pumped through a degasifier to remove carbon dioxide.
The concentrated disposal water and backwash is pumped to a well beside the plant. Oxygen is put back in, and then the water is sent to the river.
The tap water is stored in a 750,000 gallon clear well that goes over 12 feet below the plant. There are also two high service pumps that send water from the plant to several towers. The goal is to run the plant during the day, fill up the tanks, and then shut the place down at night.
The staff at NAWA is able to monitor the levels of water in the towers and the status of the pumps digitally through a software system called Prophecy by GE Fanuc.
Every piece of equipment does have a manual override in case anything goes awry. There is even a 1.8 mega watt, V-16 generator outside if the power goes out.
To cover the cost of the new water treatment system, Council implemented a twenty percent increase over three years in the water rate. To the average resident that means an extra five dollars a month, still leaving Tipp City in the bottom third of utility expenses for cities.
Right now the NAWA plant is running between three to three and a half million gallons of water a day. As of 10:30 p.m. p.m.Thursday, the old Tipp City wellfield and pumps were completely switched over to the new water treatment plant. All of Tipp City is now completely receiving filtered water with iron and manganese removed.
The next step is getting the nano-filtration (softening) units coordinated with the wellfield and placing them on-line. The goal is for that to be completed within the next two weeks, barring any setbacks.
Reader Comments Posted: Saturday, February 03, 2007
Comments
Chris Anderson
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