Last modified: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 2:34 PM PST Fruitland council OKs water upgrade By JESSICA KELLER ARGUS OBSERVER FRUITLAND — The Fruitland City Council approved a request by city engineers to upgrade and expand capacity of the temporary water treatment plant before summer because of problems with various city wells at its regular meeting Monday night. Because of low producing or malfunctioning wells, Carl Hipwell and Bob Pharmer, Pharmer Engineering, recommended to the council that the city expand the capacity of its temporary water treatment plant from 260 gallons per minute to 400 gallons per minute. “There are a number of wells we’ve had some issues with,” Hipwell said. Hipwell told the council if it approved the request, the city could make up its water needs prior to the upcoming summer months. The project also includes “changing the sheaves and motor on the raw water pump, upsizing the distribution pump and chlorine pump, (and) adding an additional chlorine contact tank,” according to the report. These modifications will make up for problems the city has experienced with wells No. 6, No. 20 and No. 16. “We recommend the city look at this expansion to take up the lost capacity of these wells,” Hipwell said. He explained well No. 20 is currently off-line because of clogging of the well intake screens, and although the city is working to fix this, if the problem is not fixed it will affect another well, No. 14. The water in well No. 20 is blended with the water from well No. 14 to meet quality standards for nitrates, the report said. If well No. 20 is not fixed, the city would not be able to use well No. 14 because the water would exceed nitrate water quality standards. Pharmer explained, city engineers recommend not waiting to make a decision regarding the temporary water treatment plant upgrade until it is determined whether well No. 20  can be fixed because by that time, the city may already be drawing from its water treatment plant to accommodate higher water usage during warm months. He said if the expansion is delayed, an upgrade well may not be online until mid-summer. In the end, the City Council agreed to the capacity expansion at the temporary water treatment plan. The project will cost approximately $51,142.79. Part of that estimate includes $10,000 for testing and engineer data collection this summer to “assist in the design of the water treatment plant,” according to a report presented to the City Council. In other City Council action: The council approved a bid from Cascade Pipeline Construction for $77,395 for the completion of the Seventh Street sewer project. City Clerk Rick Watkins explained the city received 17 bids for the project, with the lowest from Cascade Pipeline.