Water Utilities working on improvements

Despite a few minor hiccups, the El Dorado Water Utilities is moving along with improvement projects for 2018.

During a Water Advisory Board meeting earlier this week, Kenneth Robertson, project coordinator for the utilities, reported that more than 820 feet of pipe was installed for a wastewater project on Eighth Street between West and College avenues and cleanup was under way in the area.

He said a total of 33 services were tied into the new lines, with several on North Parkway and one on College Avenue.

Robertson told board members that an old clay tile waste water line was buried deeply and had collapsed due to pressure.

“Three (natural) gas services were hit. The gas company couldn’t locate the services, so a track hoe located it,” he said.

Mayor Frank Hash asked when the street would be overlaid in the project area, and Robert Edmonds, director of public works, said crews were expected to “square up” the asphalt and lay trenches sometime this week to prepare for the overlay.

“After that, it’s a matter of when Jet Asphalt can get to it,” Edmonds said.

Robertson told board members that a project the EWU previously thought was completed had run into a possible snag.

In preparation of a road widening project by the Arkansas Department of Transportation, the water utilities relocated water lines along Arkansas 335 between U.S. 82 and Arkansas 7.

Robertson said last month that the job was done, with one outstanding bill payment to be made.

On Monday, Robertson and Ross Crittendon, EWU water distribution/collection manager, said they were to meet with an ARDoT official to discuss a question regarding the relocation of a water main.

Robertson said the issue rested on the possibility that the line was “2 or 3 feet off.”

“We hope they’re looking at an old line. They’re seeing markers on 335 … We think it’s a casual mistake,” Crittendon explained.

The EWU is also preparing for ARDoT plans to widen U.S. 82 between South Arkansas Regional Airport at Goodwin Field and Wrights Lane.

Robertson said the Arkansas Department of Health asked for clarification on a couple of items that were included in the project plans.

“We answered their questions and sent it back. Now, we’re waiting to hear back from them,” he said.

Robertson said the work will cover 13,000 feet of water lines and will mean upgrades and improved service for the Oak Manor subdivision and Del-Tin Fiber, the EWU’s fifth largest water user.

“It will help with pressure and consistency. The town seems to be expanding out that way, with Mystic Creek. It will afford new opportunities,” said Lorraine

Murtha, EWU engineering consultant.

Murtha said cost estimates are “hovering around $1 million.”

Edmonds said the EWU will request funding from the El Dorado Works Board, which administers the city’s one-cent sales tax for economic development, to cover the EWU’s cost for the project.

Hash contended that a contractor would be needed for the job.

Murtha said EWU crews are capable of installing the water pipes, explaining that the toughest part of the job will be the boring.

Crittendon said the work would call for four EWU crew members daily.

“But it’s so much work and we’ve got so much stuff already collapsing all around us,” Hash said. “Money is one thing and people are too and you’re losing on the other side of the equation.”

Phyllis Waller, EWU business and administrative assistant, said the EWU office will close for a couple of hours on the afternoon of April 30 as the EWU transitions to a new billing software service.

“We’re going to move the current (Utility Meter Solutions) software to another server, install it and get it running,” Waller said, adding that the utilities is working to get the word out about the brief office closure.

In other business, the EWU agreed to investigate a leak that has created large water bills and led to a shut-off of service for a tenant of local property owner Kermit Parks.

Parks said his tenant is mute and has been hauling water “the distance of three football fields” due to the water being shut off at the property in the 1000 block of Harrison.

He told board members that in December, one of his property maintenance workers realized there was a leak near the water meter and the worker repaired the issue.

However, leaks persisted from elsewhere, leading to large water bills for the tenant, Parks said.

“I can’t fix anything with the water shut off,” Parks said.

Water Advisory Board members and EWU employees advised that the utilities should have been called when the leak was discovered in December and Parks agreed.

Hash asked Parks if he had seen the account history for the property.

“I also know somebody could have called me and said, ‘You have a serious water leak.’ I’m asking you to give consideration to a young lady out without water,” Parks said.

EWU employees said they have worked with the tenant, per EWU policies, having issued a $300 credit for a leak adjustment on the bill for December.

“There was a larger bill in March,” Murtha noted.

She also told Parks that he can view account activity in real time and receive alerts about possible leaks from the EWU’s online metering system.

After some discussion, EWU employees said they would investigate the matter to determine where the additional leaks are occurring at the Harrison Street property.