City Proceeding With $734K Telemetry Project For Lift Stations
July 20, 2021 at 1:46 a.m.
By David [email protected]
The project was the second of two change orders for the wastewater plant expansion project, but the highest-cost one was at $733,636.
“The first item on it is actually to do the – at the plant, we had a (waste activated sludge) wet well that we don’t use anymore. So we abandoned that. We wanted to make sure we drained that properly so we could do maintenance, this ground restoration, so we could easily maintain the area. The tank was no longer being used, so we wanted to have it (demolished) so it wouldn’t be a mosquito habitat area, so we had them core-drill the bottom of it and cut the concrete, and so on and so forth,” Hyden said.
That change order was $20,913.
“And then the second item on this change order is for the telemetry for the lift stations throughout the city,” Hyden said.
The telemetry will allow wastewater utility employees to see wind speed, precipitation and temperatures throughout the city. “You can see what all is going on with the pump stations. It trends all the different items that are on there. It’ll tell you any kind of alarm you have. We’re going to be proactive instead of reactive,” Hyden said.
Over the years, he said they’ve always chased after any calls in from the police department or general public about problems.
“This, we’ll actually be notified by text, email or phone call that we can actually get these repairs made ahead of the game so we don’t have to get up in the middle of the night and dump five loads with back trucks or bring in the semi tankers to do that. So this will really help us get this together with the plant,” he said. “For the 18 years that I’ve been here, I’ve always wanted to do this project. This is a big one. I know it comes with an expense, but it really does a lot of work for the city that we really don’t even realize is going on, because we can be so proactive in preventing any backups or overflows with lift stations.”
Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer said what the equipment does is, instead of waiting for a resident or officer to call in to report a flashing light or alarm at a lift station, “this basically puts that telemetry in the hands of the employees at the utility and they’re notified at the moment that the system shuts down. They may be able to predict, and get this taken care of, before it gets to that point.”
Thallemer said the $733,636 is a huge project and a huge step forward in improving efficiency and cutting costs while being proactive.
“The second good part about this is the SRF (State Revolving Fund) loan that we got for plant expansion will be able to absorb this cost, so, obviously, we’ll still be paying this over a 20-year period, but those funds are available. And this type of project is right in line with the expansion, and it just improves efficiency,” he said.
“Not only has it been 18 years that Larry has been wanting to do this, it’s huge, a huge improvement. Now there’s funds available with the remaining money that we didn’t use for the plant expansion. I would certainly consider a improvement for the plant and I think it’s a great idea. Good timing, and I’m certainly supportive of it,” Thallemer continued.
Councilman Jeff Grose asked if there were 42 lift stations. Hyden said there are 42 that they’re working on at this time, but they actually have 47 lift stations. Two of them already have the equipment on them, some are on another system and a couple lift stations were not applicable.
Lucas Gibson, salesperson for BL Anderson, said there were a couple of lift stations that had “such basic, like almost residential-style pumping equipment, that you can’t really monitor them and the expense to monitor those would not be beneficial. So we just took them off the list.”
Hyden said for the lift stations that don’t get the telemetry equipment, they can still have people call in when they hear the alarms or see the flashing lights. He said those are generally the single pump lift stations and they can catch those up “fairly quickly.”
Board of Works member George Clemens said, “Sounds like necessary and more efficient and everything else.”
Thallemer said the other thing to consider is the benefit to the utility users who won’t have to experience wastewater backups.
Grose said the cost is $18,000 per pump. He asked what the annual fee is. Gibson said the annual fee for all the lift stations quoted in this project is $24,092. There are three additional lift stations that use the same service at a lower rate of $1,149. The total is $25,241 annually for all the lift stations, and that is not an automatic renewal. At the end of the year, there will be an invoice presented to renew the contract.
“I’m certainly supportive of this,” Thallemer said, listing the positives of moving forward with the change order.
Clemens made a motion to approve the change order, and Grose seconded it. It was approved 3-0.
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The project was the second of two change orders for the wastewater plant expansion project, but the highest-cost one was at $733,636.
“The first item on it is actually to do the – at the plant, we had a (waste activated sludge) wet well that we don’t use anymore. So we abandoned that. We wanted to make sure we drained that properly so we could do maintenance, this ground restoration, so we could easily maintain the area. The tank was no longer being used, so we wanted to have it (demolished) so it wouldn’t be a mosquito habitat area, so we had them core-drill the bottom of it and cut the concrete, and so on and so forth,” Hyden said.
That change order was $20,913.
“And then the second item on this change order is for the telemetry for the lift stations throughout the city,” Hyden said.
The telemetry will allow wastewater utility employees to see wind speed, precipitation and temperatures throughout the city. “You can see what all is going on with the pump stations. It trends all the different items that are on there. It’ll tell you any kind of alarm you have. We’re going to be proactive instead of reactive,” Hyden said.
Over the years, he said they’ve always chased after any calls in from the police department or general public about problems.
“This, we’ll actually be notified by text, email or phone call that we can actually get these repairs made ahead of the game so we don’t have to get up in the middle of the night and dump five loads with back trucks or bring in the semi tankers to do that. So this will really help us get this together with the plant,” he said. “For the 18 years that I’ve been here, I’ve always wanted to do this project. This is a big one. I know it comes with an expense, but it really does a lot of work for the city that we really don’t even realize is going on, because we can be so proactive in preventing any backups or overflows with lift stations.”
Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer said what the equipment does is, instead of waiting for a resident or officer to call in to report a flashing light or alarm at a lift station, “this basically puts that telemetry in the hands of the employees at the utility and they’re notified at the moment that the system shuts down. They may be able to predict, and get this taken care of, before it gets to that point.”
Thallemer said the $733,636 is a huge project and a huge step forward in improving efficiency and cutting costs while being proactive.
“The second good part about this is the SRF (State Revolving Fund) loan that we got for plant expansion will be able to absorb this cost, so, obviously, we’ll still be paying this over a 20-year period, but those funds are available. And this type of project is right in line with the expansion, and it just improves efficiency,” he said.
“Not only has it been 18 years that Larry has been wanting to do this, it’s huge, a huge improvement. Now there’s funds available with the remaining money that we didn’t use for the plant expansion. I would certainly consider a improvement for the plant and I think it’s a great idea. Good timing, and I’m certainly supportive of it,” Thallemer continued.
Councilman Jeff Grose asked if there were 42 lift stations. Hyden said there are 42 that they’re working on at this time, but they actually have 47 lift stations. Two of them already have the equipment on them, some are on another system and a couple lift stations were not applicable.
Lucas Gibson, salesperson for BL Anderson, said there were a couple of lift stations that had “such basic, like almost residential-style pumping equipment, that you can’t really monitor them and the expense to monitor those would not be beneficial. So we just took them off the list.”
Hyden said for the lift stations that don’t get the telemetry equipment, they can still have people call in when they hear the alarms or see the flashing lights. He said those are generally the single pump lift stations and they can catch those up “fairly quickly.”
Board of Works member George Clemens said, “Sounds like necessary and more efficient and everything else.”
Thallemer said the other thing to consider is the benefit to the utility users who won’t have to experience wastewater backups.
Grose said the cost is $18,000 per pump. He asked what the annual fee is. Gibson said the annual fee for all the lift stations quoted in this project is $24,092. There are three additional lift stations that use the same service at a lower rate of $1,149. The total is $25,241 annually for all the lift stations, and that is not an automatic renewal. At the end of the year, there will be an invoice presented to renew the contract.
“I’m certainly supportive of this,” Thallemer said, listing the positives of moving forward with the change order.
Clemens made a motion to approve the change order, and Grose seconded it. It was approved 3-0.
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