As the new District Manager, as of July 7, 2008, for Chenowith
Water People’s Utility District, I would like to introduce the
professional staff of the District.
Administration/Human Resources - Patsy Busick, 10 years
total experience with the District
Data Management- Lea Stephens 4 years experience with the
District
Jeb Miller- Senior System Operations, Water Distribution I,
Backflow Prevention Officer- 4 years experience with the
District
Nate Pope- System Operations, Backflow Prevention Officer,
Cross Connection Inspector
Bill Van Eck- System Operations, Water Distribution III, 20
years in the Municipal water industry.
Sam Bishop- System Operations
The main focus since July has been to make Chenowith
Water PUD water system more functional, reliable, efficient
and improve water quality as a normal part of public health
for the community. We have focused energies on providing
source water improvements with the installation of a totally
new well #4 including high tech controls which allows for the
well to operate on a continuous basis and improved flows
from 600 gallons per minute to nearly 1100 gallons per minute
with no increase in motor size. Well #3 was refurbished with
a new pump, column pipe and major maintenance on the
motor.
With both major production wells being updated the District
can look forward to decades of reliability in source water
production. We have also established protocols with the City
of The Dalles to utilize the hard pipe connection between the
two systems in the event of an emergency. Backup manual
controls were installed on the Iron and Manganese removal
process for Well #4 in case the computer controlled process
failed. The aeration basin at Well #3 was repaired, cleaned
and updated with modern instruments for control.
Well #6, located at the main office site, was drilled and
test pumped and will serve as a future water source and
additional back up water in future budget cycles. The District
also filed applications with the Oregon Water Resources
Department to coalesce the various existing water rights into
a unified and defined package.
The field staff has been trained in the operation of the
System Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), the telemetry
and computer side of operations that tracks water
production, flows and reservoir levels and other parameters
of the water system. This system allows the operators to turn
on and shut down wells and adjust reservoir levels from the
keyboard instead of driving to each site and manually making
adjustments, thus increasing efficiency. The system also
provides real time data on system hydraulics for making day
to day operational decisions. Field staff are available on a
24/7/365 basis to respond to customer issues or emergencies.
Water quality and Public Health will always remain as a
primary duty of the District. Field staff has been engaged
in hydrant flushing, a process where the velocity of the
water in the pipes is of sufficient speed to clean and flush
the distribution piping. In additional to the flushing action,
hydraulic data is recorded on each hydrant to determine its
flow capacity and pressures and this information is shared
with the Fire District. Any hydrants that are beyond repair are
replaced with new modern design hydrants.
Cross connection and backflow prevention are terms used to
describe when the normal flow direction and pressures are
reversed or compromised, allowing for non-potable water to
enter the distribution system. Underground sprinkler systems
are an excellent example of a potential cross connection and
must be protected with an approved backflow assembly.
The district maintains a data base of backflow devices and
has an active cross connection inspection system to locate
potential cross connections to protect water quality in the
community. As a compliment to both field and office staff,
all personnel of the District have received First Aid and CPR
training.
Based upon the recommendation of an outside consultant,
the District also adopted a new rate structure and fee
schedule. The new rate structure is based upon just two
parameters, the size of the meter and the amount of water
that is measured by the meter. This rate structure gives
each customer the ability to limit the monthly water bill by
using good conservation practices in both the home and the
irrigation of lawn and garden areas.
The 5 member elected Board meets the second Tuesday of
every month and members of the community are encouraged
to attend these meetings to better understand the profession
of the domestic water purveyor.
Sincerely,
Roger Prowell, District Manager
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