The Coffeyville City Commission approved borrowing more than $300,000 from the State of Kansas in order to prevent a potential Midge Fly larva/blood worm infestation.
The commission unanimously approved borrowing $319,175 from the Kansas Drinking Water Loan Fund to cover construction costs of a water improvement project recommended by Young & Co. Operations Manager Gary Eslaf during the September 9th city commission meeting.
Eslaf said if Coffeyville took no action and a blood worm infestation occurred, then Coffeyville would spend millions removing the invasive species that City Utility Director William Larson said brought down the water service in Colcord, Oklahoma.
“You would be talking [seven] figures - six zeros. Blood worms are very small and their reproduction rates are very fast. If they get into Verdigris River and you have no prevention method, when you suck water out of the river and pump it into the water treatment plant between the river and the water treatment plant, those blood worms will collect,” Eslaf said. “Not only will they collect in your raw water intake structure, they will collect inside the walls of your pipes. They attach to it and they reproduce. They build up inside your pipe system and will eventually clog it up. At that point you will be replacing pipe, if you can find out where they attached.”
The water improvement project includes replacing inlet screens, submerging piping, installing valves and pump strainers, coating all submerged materials with a Macrobenthos resistant liquid, and installing a bridge crane system.
“Blood worms are still fairly new to enclosed water systems, but we know with the coating that we put on the pipe they cannot adhere to it,” Eslaf said.
Blood worms, an invasive species that are actually the larva of a non-biting midge, are a major issue for municipalities across the country. Ecologists believe the American blood worm infestation originated in the Gulf Coast due to ocean-going ships unknowingly introducing the species while passing through the Panama Canal seaway. Since that time, the larva have spread by cross-contamination of waters from Florida to Missouri. Although non-toxic to humans, blood worms can adhere to any firm surface and can form clusters on screens, settle in pipes and clog pump straining, which could impact other water intake systems and related components further downstream.
As part of the Kansas Safe Water Drinking Act of 1996, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) will administrate the loan and begin receiving bi-annual, $12,319 payments from Coffeyville beginning one year after completion of the project, which KDHE estimates should take place in Feb. 1, 2015. Coffeyville will continue making those payments through 2038.
Of the $319,175 borrowed, $240,000 will go towards construction costs, $50,000 for engineering costs, and the remaining $29,175 for administrative costs. Coffeyville will also pay $85,238 in interest and another $13,472 for service fees for a total repayment of $418,364.
Along with approving the water improvement loan, city commissioners also approved spending $115,830 to repair a water clarifier, which acts as a pool to sift dirt from the city water supply. Coffeyville has five other clarifiers in operation. Larson said the paint in the offline clarifier wore away and in certain sections the concrete has become so soft he could plunge a finger into it.
“It’s pretty soft. It needs extensive repairs and if we do not tend to it soon, we are probably going to lose that clarifier somewhere down the line … It’s still functional, but in serious need of repair,” Larson said. “We can take half the plant down. During the wintertime, we do that regularly. We clean and do minor repairs to the clarifiers. It’s a 1960's plant and has been there for quite a while.”
Larson later added the city must have all clarifiers online by next summer.
Coffeyville will pay Neman Specialty Services of Wichita annual installments of $5,791 over 20 years, which Larson also believes will cover the life of the repair. Larson said he set aside the necessary funds for this year’s installment from the 2013 Capital Improvements Fund.
The commission unanimously approved borrowing $319,175 from the Kansas Drinking Water Loan Fund to cover construction costs of a water improvement project recommended by Young & Co. Operations Manager Gary Eslaf during the September 9th city commission meeting.
Eslaf said if Coffeyville took no action and a blood worm infestation occurred, then Coffeyville would spend millions removing the invasive species that City Utility Director William Larson said brought down the water service in Colcord, Oklahoma.
“You would be talking [seven] figures - six zeros. Blood worms are very small and their reproduction rates are very fast. If they get into Verdigris River and you have no prevention method, when you suck water out of the river and pump it into the water treatment plant between the river and the water treatment plant, those blood worms will collect,” Eslaf said. “Not only will they collect in your raw water intake structure, they will collect inside the walls of your pipes. They attach to it and they reproduce. They build up inside your pipe system and will eventually clog it up. At that point you will be replacing pipe, if you can find out where they attached.”
The water improvement project includes replacing inlet screens, submerging piping, installing valves and pump strainers, coating all submerged materials with a Macrobenthos resistant liquid, and installing a bridge crane system.
“Blood worms are still fairly new to enclosed water systems, but we know with the coating that we put on the pipe they cannot adhere to it,” Eslaf said.
Blood worms, an invasive species that are actually the larva of a non-biting midge, are a major issue for municipalities across the country. Ecologists believe the American blood worm infestation originated in the Gulf Coast due to ocean-going ships unknowingly introducing the species while passing through the Panama Canal seaway. Since that time, the larva have spread by cross-contamination of waters from Florida to Missouri. Although non-toxic to humans, blood worms can adhere to any firm surface and can form clusters on screens, settle in pipes and clog pump straining, which could impact other water intake systems and related components further downstream.
As part of the Kansas Safe Water Drinking Act of 1996, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) will administrate the loan and begin receiving bi-annual, $12,319 payments from Coffeyville beginning one year after completion of the project, which KDHE estimates should take place in Feb. 1, 2015. Coffeyville will continue making those payments through 2038.
Of the $319,175 borrowed, $240,000 will go towards construction costs, $50,000 for engineering costs, and the remaining $29,175 for administrative costs. Coffeyville will also pay $85,238 in interest and another $13,472 for service fees for a total repayment of $418,364.
Along with approving the water improvement loan, city commissioners also approved spending $115,830 to repair a water clarifier, which acts as a pool to sift dirt from the city water supply. Coffeyville has five other clarifiers in operation. Larson said the paint in the offline clarifier wore away and in certain sections the concrete has become so soft he could plunge a finger into it.
“It’s pretty soft. It needs extensive repairs and if we do not tend to it soon, we are probably going to lose that clarifier somewhere down the line … It’s still functional, but in serious need of repair,” Larson said. “We can take half the plant down. During the wintertime, we do that regularly. We clean and do minor repairs to the clarifiers. It’s a 1960's plant and has been there for quite a while.”
Larson later added the city must have all clarifiers online by next summer.
Coffeyville will pay Neman Specialty Services of Wichita annual installments of $5,791 over 20 years, which Larson also believes will cover the life of the repair. Larson said he set aside the necessary funds for this year’s installment from the 2013 Capital Improvements Fund.