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Show CUWCD f o sirsee-J here The board of directors of the Central tah Water Conservancy District spent to hours during a special board eeting Wednesday, Dec. 30 in Orem, tah deciding where to locate a water eatment plant near here. At the end of the meeting, the board issed a motion calling for a special eeting of the board of directors at the intah County Courthouse Jan. 11 at 1 m. The purpose of the meeting will be to ceive public comments concerning e construction by CUWCD of a water irification plant to treat Central Utah roject water to assist in meeting the unicipal water requirement in Ashley illey. The board passed a motion last :tober to locate the water treatment int about four miles northwest of Vernal at Doc's Beach. Since that time, some citizens have objected to the site and suggest the plant be located near Ashley Springs. The main objection to the proposed location of the water treatment plant is its elevation of 5,800 feet. Persons contesting con-testing the location suggest that the Ashley Springs location at 6,200 elevation would better serve the entire valley. The Ashley Valley Water and Sewer Improvement District and the Maeser Improvement District are proposing to build a treatment plant at the higher location in Ashley Canyon. Edward W. Clyde, counsel for the district, told the board Wednesday that Vernal requested the proposed treatment treat-ment plant at the lower site. Vernal City Councilmen contend that a treatment plant at the location would serve all the population of the valley both present and future and only 5 percent would have to be pumped. Areas which would need pumping would be Air Village Hills and Coal Mine Basin. "But another group of citizens has appeared during committee meetings and at several smaller meetings in Vernal with a request for the plant at a higher elevation near Ashley Springs," Clyde said. G. Marion Hinckley, vice president of the board of directors, said that the full board of directors has never met with the people in Uintah County. He said delegation had only appeared before committees representing the board. (Continued on page 12) Treatment plant (Continued from Page 1) Lynn S. Ludlow, general manager of the district, said numerous meetings have been held in the Vernal area during which all people in attendance have received a full explanation of the reason for locating the plant four miles north of Vernal. Reasons given for locating the site at Doc's Beach is that it is the site which can most economically treat water from Red Fleet Reservoir, Steinaker Reservoir and Ashley Springs. The location of the plant was left mainly to a staff of qualified engineers who conducted a six-month study of where the plant should be located, - Ludlow said. The Vernal City Council has also officially endorsed the Doc's Beach site for the treatment plant. "This site would be ideal for a direct-filtration direct-filtration type of plant, which would be more economical to build and could be operated at a lower cost, Ludlow said. R. Roscoe Garrett, president of the board, said the board of directors has been caught in a dispute it should not be involved in. "But we have been caught up." he said. He said many of the people in Vernal believe the entire board is not available to them. The water treatment plant to be built by the CUWCD is similar to the Utah Valley Water Purification Plant in Orem build by CUWCD in 1977. The Vernal treatment plant will be somewhat smaller than the Orem plant having a construction cost of $6 million compared to $10 million for the Orem plant. The site for the Orem plant is a flat terrace near the mouth of Provo Canyon which allows gravite flow through the plant to all of northern Utah County. It is adjacent to the Salt Lake Aqueduct which brings water from Deer Creek Reservoir. Flocculation is the initial treatment step in both plants. During this step, the very fine particles of clay, silt, algae, and other foreign matter in the water are made to cling together and grow to a size large enough to be trapped on a filter. Flocculation is induced by adding ad-ding chemicals to the water. The filters are layers of carefully graded gravel and rock mixed with coal and sand. After passing through the filter media and gravel, the water leaves the filters through small holes at the filter floor. It is chlorinated and enters the treated water reservoir. The CUWCD will build the Ashley Valley treatment plant withadyorum taxes, as it did the Orem plant, that persons in the valley has already paid. |