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Show Page 16 THE OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Volume II, Issue XIX October 1, 2000 High-tech Water System Nearly Ready in Huntsville Pictures furnished by Stanley Wangsgaard $2 million system expected to serve city more than 50 years By Cathy McKitrick Standard-Examiner HUNTSVILLE — In about three weeks water will begin to flow through Huntsville’s new $2 million water system, the first of its kind in Utah. The system, located in unincorporated East Huntsville, consists of a 1million gallon water reservoir and a facility equipped with duplicate filtration tanks and sensors that monitor activity around the clock via a state-ofthe-art computer system. If the weather holds, Mayor Jim McKay would like to show off all the bells and whistles of the new system to the public with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tours in mid-October. After that, he’d just as soon have the system’s presence go unnoticed. It was purposely designed to blend with the rural environment and not loom as a prominent fixture on the mountainside. The huge concrete tank is recessed into the hillside and will be surrounded by security fence and vegetation, making it barely visible. The treatment facility looks similar to a house made of earth tone cinder block and will be landscaped to blend with the area. “It will be a unique and lovely addition to our community,” McKay said. Huntsville’s present water system, about 70 years old, feeds off of three springs, one of which is shared with the Catholic monastery. Twenty years ago the state required that the water be chlorinated. The system currently operates with two water tanks which have a combined capacity of [200,000] gallons. Four years ago the State’s Division of Drinking Water conducted an exhaustive study on water resources and determined that Huntsville’s water was subject to surface water influence and needed a filtration process to keep it contamination-free. “Huntsville’s water has a problem with turbidity (cloudiness) in the springtime, which has always caused us concern. Our tests at that time showed the presence of things like algae that grow in surface water and require more treatment than chlorination,” said Mike Georgeson, engineering manager for the Division of Drinking Water. McKay said town officials then began the lengthy process of analyzing the water system with engineers and pursuing funds through Rural Development, a division of the Federal Department of Agriculture. Construction began a year ago with the anticipated completion date of December 1999. But delays due to weather and having to bring threephase power up to the facility pushed the project’s time line back to the first week of October this year. The most exciting part of the construction, McKay noted, was when 40 to 50 heavy construction trucks had to make it up the one-lane rocky dirt-road leading to lay new pipe and pour concrete for the water tank. The system, designed to serve the current 250 homes in Huntsville and handle anticipated build-out, has a life expectancy of at least 50 years, McKay said. New water lines were installed, leading from the reservoir to the treatment facility and up to the intersection of Highway 39 and 500 South. Older water lines within the town of Huntsville will be evaluated and replaced at a later date, McKay said. Lewis Johnson will serve as the local operator of the new facility. “We’re very excited that we can provide our residents a higher quality of water than in the past,” McKay said. With five times [their] current storage capacity, the system will also afford better fire protection. Note: This article is being reprinted courtesy of the Standard-Examiner. Jim Bulkeley and Mayor Jim McKay breaking groundon water project on September 11, 1999. At the groundbreaking for the new culinary water treatment facility and a million gallon water storage tank are from left to right: Seth Schick, Drew Matthews, Mayor Jim McKay, Jack Davis, Scott Richardson, Paul Newey, Rex Harris and Ana Richardson on the machinery. Looking down form the hill above into the new million gallon water storage tank in Huntsville on September 11, 1999. It has an 8-inch steel reinforced concrete top that it covered by 2 feet of dirt. |