Fruitland board reviews pump issue

By JESSICA KELLER - ARGUS OBSERVER
Wednesday, August 29, 2007 10:08 AM PDT

FRUITLAND - The Fruitland City Council was informed by city engineers at Monday night’s regular meeting of a situation at the city’s temporary water treatment plant last week regarding a chlorine pump left unplugged over night.

Bob Pharmer, Pharmer Engineering, L.L.C., Boise, told the council the city’s water users will be receiving notices informing them of the situation as required by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

Pharmer said the error was discovered the morning of Aug. 21. when city staff arrived at the treatment plant and noticed the pump system that distributes chlorine into the city’s water had been left unplugged over night.

Pharmer said the error was not on the part of any city staff.

Rather, Aug. 20, a delivery person for the city’s chlorine distributor came to the water treatment plant late in the day to unload more chlorine for the city’s water. After unloading his supply, the delivery person did not plug the city’s pump back in, which meant the city’s water went unchlorinated over night. Pharmer said when the problem was found, DEQ was notified of the situation right away. In such situations, DEQ requires the water tests to determine if any bacteria reached the city’s water.

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Pharmer said the city’s water was tested for both chloroform and heterotrophic plate counts (HPC). The chloroform was not detected in the city’s water, and the city’s water was below the allowed limit for HPCs. Pharmer engineer Carl Hipwell said the membrane system installed at the temporary treatment plant prevented the excess bacteria from entering the city’s water system. A membrane system is the type of water system Fruitland will install as part of its water treatment bond. Since the discovery, Pharmer said steps have been taken to prevent the situation from occurring again. He said in the future, city staff must be on hand when deliveries are made to the treatment plant, so the Fruitland has better security access.

Secondly, he said, electrical modifications have been made to the city’s chlorine pump. Rather than keeping the pump plugged into an electrical outlet, the chlorine pump’s power source has been hard-wired into the wall outlet. Lastly, he said a chlorine residual analyzer, detecting the level of chlorine being pumped into the city’s water, has been installed, so if chlorine levels get low, city staff will be notified.

“So we set up some safeguards so this can’t happen again,” Pharmer said, adding he thinks DEQ will be satisfied with the preventative measures. “Luckily, this was a good lesson learned,” he said.

In other council business:

The City Council approved the 2007 to 2008 fiscal year budget.

Councilman Ken Bishop was the only member who opposed the final budget. He also opposed the tentative budget because it included the city’s 3 percent increase from property taxes, which he did not think the City Council should take this year.

Also during the meeting, Bishop asked Fruitland City Clerk Rick Watkins what was being done about the strong odors emanating from Dickinson Frozen Foods.

“Something has to be done about that,” Bishop said. Watkins said, currently the city does not have any measures in place to address strong odors from the county or industrial areas. He said, city attorney Bert Osborne has received a formal complaint about the matter. Osborne is also revising the city’s nuisance ordinance to include an amendment regarding strong odors.

“He thought our nuisance ordinance was a little weak,” Watkins said.

The council also approved an ordinance entering into an agreement with the Idaho Transportation Department for reconstruction and realignment of Allen Avenue. The council approved three land use measures, including a final plat application for Remington Hills subdivision; an amendment to the city’s comprehensive plan and map, changing the zoning of property at 2403 Whitley Drive to light industrial; and annexing land where the Brookwood Estates subdivision is situated into city limits and zoning the area single-family residential.