GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY WATER DISTRICT #2
Newsletter for May/June 2022
We can’t live without water
POST THE EMERGENCY PHONE NUMBERS
THEY ARE AT THE END OF THIS NEWSLETTER
Web Site
There is important information on the web site. Check it often. There is always new content. https://www.centralparkwater.net.
There is general information about the water district, plus quite a bit of detail. The monthly Manager's Reports are posted, along with the meeting agendas and minutes, financial statements are posted, and this newsletter (along with historical newsletters) can be found on the site as well.
You can pay your bill from the web site. There is a "Pay My Bill" button. By the time you read this, Xpress Bill Pay should be implemented. There are a lot more services from Xpress Bill Pay than the service we have been using for the last few years.
The district also has a Facebook page. Updates are posted as time allows. The general manager will, from time to time, post discussions on the issues of the day or general water industry philosophy and happenings. Facebook content is repeated on the web site for those who don't do social media.
Power Outages
When power outages occur, it impacts the District’s ability to pump water from the wells up to the reservoirs. It is important to minimize water use during power outages.
About Leaks
The property owner is responsible for the condition of the plumbing on their side of the meter. The district offers one hour of free leak detection subject to operational considerations. This is a courtesy and does not relieve the property owner of the liability for all water passing through the meter.
Payments
Water bills are payable by:
Check (in-office, mail, night drop)
Cash (in-office, mail, night drop.)
Credit Card over the phone
Credit Card through the web site
Online bill pay with your bank.
This list will expand when Xpress Bill Pay is completely on line.
If you send your payment through the mail or use the night drop, be sure and include the bill stub so we know to whose account to credit the payment. If paying cash through the night drop be sure and place your payment and the bill stub in the provided envelope. Or any other envelope. Payments made into the night drop go into a secure locked box.
If you are struggling to pay your water bill, for whatever reason, the district offers a payment plan for past due accounts. It is best to contact the district early. Don’t be too proud to ask for help. Everybody experiences occasional tough times.
Emergency Notification
Be sure and sign up with the County for emergency notifications.
“Google” Grays Harbor County
Once on the web site click on “Departments”
Click on “Emergency Management”
On the links on the left, in green, click on “Emergency Alerts”
Fill in the blanks
THIS IS IMPORTANT. If you don’t have web access, ask a friend to help getting registered. If your contact information is not available to the County you may miss important emergency information not only from the County, but from the water district as well.
An example is the recent water main break between Holbrook and Schrader Lanes. There were simply too many people out of water or with reduced pressure to notify individually. The district utilized the County’s emergency notification system to get information to the community. That system uses a recorded phone message, a text message, and an email to each person for whom they have contact information.
Information on water system emergencies is posted on the web site in the “Notifications” section.
During emergency situations our plan is to have someone on the phones to answer questions as best as we can. We also try and post ongoing updates on Facebook and the web site. That kind of communication is important, but our ability to pass on information is secondary to addressing the problem.
Conditions of Service
There are conditions attached to the provision of water service. If you don’t have a copy, please request one. We can mail it or email it to you. You can pick up a copy at the office and they are posted on the web site.
Special Needs
It is absolutely vital that you inform the District if you have special needs. If you suffer from an immune deficiency or other problem where a lack of water could be life-threatening, we need to know.
Ongoing Maintenance/Repair
This year, 2022 is proving to be a challenging year. The year started with a major water main break between Holbrook Lane and Schrader Lane. Due to the heavy rains and a partially blocked WSDOT culvert that created a lake where none had been before, it took the district 62 hours to locate the break. Due to technical, regulatory and permitting challenges the break is not yet repaired. Fortunately the break has been isolated with only slightly lower pressures to a small number of customers. The district is hoping the repair cost will not exceed $300,000.
A result of the stresses placed on the system by the main break was the failure of the Reynvaan Booster station. Both the pumps and the controls for that booster station were approaching the end of their life span. Actually, the controls reached that point quite some time ago. So the decision was made to upgrade the booster station to current standards. The project has taken longer than anticipated due to supply chain problems. The delivery date for the new pumps keeps getting pushed back. The final cost for this project will be just over $86,000. Way more than we originally planned. But new regulations and inflation have served to increase costs.
We have made initial application to FEMA for emergency funding. However, our projects may be too small to qualify.
We have one planned project for the year. The North Bank Reservoir has a rather odd roof. It is vital to keep that roof coated. We have deferred the project for a couple of years. It absolutely has to be done this year if we want to avoid permanent damage to the roof. Five years ago the estimated cost was around $20,000. The low bid we recently received was for just over $78,000.
At this writing the year is not quite half over.
Requested new/expanded services
Xpress Bill Pay
By the time you read this, hopefully the new online credit card company, Xpress Bill Pay, will be on line. The company we have used for several years only offered a credit card processing service. Many have requested true online bill paying. The company we have used now offers those services, but a second, and actually more pressing, issue is the difficulty of reconciling payments with deposits to the district’s bank account. So the district has opted to change companies. At this writing, we don’t have a change over date, but it will be soon. It may even be in place by the time you receive this newsletter.
You will be able to track your billing and payments online, make payments online with multiple options, including autopay and paperless billing. You can receive email notifications of issued bills. The option to go paperless will also be available. And many more.
As always, these services cost money, and Xpress Bill Pay will be adding fees to your transactions. Those fees will be available on the Xpress Bill Pay website when you open an account with them. All the services, and there are quite a few, are “free to sign up”, but there are fees attached to actual transactions. If you would rather avoid the fees, the district will, of course, continue to accept checks and cash in the office or through the night drop.
Xpress Bill Pay has their own, high level, security protocols, relieving the district of that effort and expense.
Current Projects
These are the projects that currently have our attention:
Utility Repair Indefinite Delivery Contract. Awarded to Brumfield Construction.
Holbrook/Schrader Lane Main Break. In engineering
Lower Reynvaan Extension: Deferred as a result of the Holbrook/Schrader Lane main break.
North Bank Access Road Paving: Deferred as a result of the Holbrook/Schrader Lane main break
Clemons Reservoirs Access Road Paving: Deferred as a result of the Holbrook/Schrader Lane main break
Hidden Valley Mobile Home Park Service Meter Replacement: Completed
Clemons Road Connection to Gavett Lane Pressure Zone: Deferred due to a lack of funding
Fairway Terrace Main Replacement: Deferred due to a lack of funding
Reynvaan Booster Station Pumphouse Replacement: In process
North Bank Reservoir Roof Recoating: Contract awarded
Rates
The rate discussion is usually reserved for the November/December newsletter. It is important to start a little early this year because of the inflation pressures and the unusual number of high cost challenges we are facing.
An important point to make is that nobody here at the district likes rate increases. For one thing all of the commissioners and most of the staff live within Central Park. Aside from that, there is special concern for those in the community on fixed (low) incomes. Those folks are always on everyone’s minds when examining the budget and rates.
The flip side is that the district is required, by state law, to recover all expenses and maintain the financial viability of the district into the indefinite future. All district staff can do is to make every effort to control costs consistent with providing safe and reliable drinking water.
And that we do. We don’t cut corners because that only increases costs down the road. But we examine everything we do with an eye to minimizing costs. The monthly Reconciled Budget Position Report is posted on the district’s web site for all to see.
Inflation is a big question mark this year. Yes, the Consumer Price Index is up. But the items tracked on the CPI are not necessarily the items that most impact water district costs. Actually, the Producer Price Index is a much better indicator of the cost increases faced by the district. While, at this writing, the CPI stands at 8.3%, the PPI is at 11%. We are not yet sure how the specifics impact the district’s overall costs. As an example, the price of no-lead brass fittings recently dropped by a small amount after several years of double digit increases. But the price of HDPE pipe, of which we use quite a bit in repairing service laterals, doubled. In the past we could plug in a 2.5% allowance for inflation and be very close to the mark. For 2023? We, quite frankly, don’t know. When things clarify (or not) discussions will be posted on the districts Facebook page and web site.
An additional factor in determining district costs is the issue of ongoing financial viability, an issue long neglected by public agencies. Which is why there is so much discussion about “crumbling infrastructure”. In order for the district to provide safe and reliable drinking water indefinitely, reserves must be established to replace capital assets when they reach the end of their useful life. There has been a failure to address this issue industry wide. It is not just an issue for the Central Park Water District. Part of the water rate contributes to building up those reserves. A big problem faced by this district, and almost all other water utilities, is that, despite rate increases over the years, there are no reserves available to replace the most expensive asset, water mains.
In order for the district to have the necessary reserves to replace the water mains over the next 50 years, assuming they last that long, many are already over 60 years old, rates would have to be way more expensive than they are now. The only answer is that the district will have to borrow money to replace water mains when the time comes. There is no easy answer. Kicking the can down the road is not a good answer. But it is the only one we have at the moment.
For the present, the district puts away sufficient savings for capital assets, apart from the water mains, so the money is available when those assets need replacing. What are those assets? Buildings, pumps, controls, vehicles, etc. This year we are replacing the SCADA (short version, pump controls) computers. Payment for those bills will come out of savings.
It would be wonderful if the district did not have to announce a rate increase in the November/December newsletter. It is highly unlikely that the district will be able to avoid an increase in 2023.
The allocated water is 1,200 cubic feet. That is 9,000 gallons. Relate that to bottled water. 9,000 gallons = about 75,000 bottles of water.
Water Quality Monitoring Report
Included in this newsletter is the required annual water quality report. Some additional information is necessary regarding this report.
Water quality monitoring is the top priority for the district. Having said that, in 2021 we missed two sampling events. The monitoring violations are not yet official. Though we have discussed them with the State Department of Health, they have not yet issued a formal notice of violation. So, technically, there is no violation.
But we missed those samples and you should know. And, quite frankly, everyone on the staff is very upset over it. It is an area in which this staff has the attitude that we must not fail. But we did. Fortunately, the failure was such that there was no risk to public health. Still, we feel the failure very deeply. The district staff does not subscribe to the “no harm, no fail” way of thinking. There was no harm, regardless, we failed you. We have reviewed our procedures and record keeping to make sure it does not happen again.
By the way, one of the things on the web site is the annual Water Quality Monitoring Schedule, issued by the Department of Health and detailing the required sampling for the year. Check it out.
A complete history of the District’s water quality monitoring (as well as some other information) can be found on the Department of Health’s web site at https://fortress.wa.gov/doh/eh/portal/odw/si/Intro.aspx. The district’s state ID number is 29250.
One group of sampling we missed is Disinfection Byproducts (DBP). These are a family of chemicals (HAA5 and TTHM) that can be present as a result of chlorine disinfection. Tests for DBP have always returned non-detect. The results from 2020 have been included in the attached water quality monitoring report.
The other potential contaminant is Nitrates. These are tested at the well heads and have always tested far below the trigger level. Both the 2020 samples and the 2022 samples are consistent with past sampling.
Tours
The District is offering a very limited number of system tours. We can only accommodate two people at a time and tours are limited to one per week. A full tour takes about two hours. If you are interested call the office for scheduling. Tour availability is subject to operational and weather considerations. You must be physically able to get into and out of a pickup truck.
Emergencies
There are water district staff available to address water emergency situations 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you have an emergency, or even think you might have an emergency, do not be bashful about using the emergency contact numbers.
POST THE NUMBERS LISTED BELOW
Water district staff technicians are not in a position to answer billing or other account related questions. Office phones are answered between Noon and 4:00PM Monday through Friday. If you have an urgent need CALL THE EMERGENCY NUMBERS. If in doubt, call. Really, we don’t mind.
Thank You
Thank you for wading through all this information. If you have questions, or there are issues that we have not addressed in this newsletter, please feel free to call the office (360-532-1828) during posted hours, or email the General Manager (reg@centralparkwater.net). You are also always welcome at commissioners' meetings held at 7:00PM on the second Wednesday of each month in the District office. You can learn a lot at commissioners' meetings. The District office is located on East Cross Road just off of Hill Road.
Feel free to call or email if you have questions or concerns. We love to talk with you.
EMERGENCY CONTACT NUMBERS
360-580-2172
360-589-6007
360-591-1649
DO NOT HESITATE TO CALL.
Grays Harbor County Water District #2 is an equal opportunity provider and employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, sex, gender identity, or religion.