Water Facility Master Plan approved

Jim Jones and Joe Nobel with city engineer AE2S presented the Water Facility Master Plan for the City of Hill City at the common council meeting April 8. 

“We finalized that report thanks to a lot of influence and support from city staff and from council members who have taken a look and reviewed this,” said Nobel, operations manager out of Rapid City for AE2S.

This facility plan addresses three core areas including distribution, storage and supply treatment. Nobel said the plan covers the history of the system, aspects of the three core areas and a “laundry list” of potential projects.

The 77-page report documenting this for the city is available online or in paper for $12 at city hall.

“Systematically, we went through, and we started to look at your system,” said Nobel. “I think we came up with some really great initial projects that identify all three of those core areas.” 

Nobel highlighted well number five, which the city does not utilize because of air entrainment and other issues, and well number four, which has arsenic concerns and other issues. 

“We were able to find a project that would address both where we would be able to do arsenic removal and the air entrainment, and thereby bring you an additional supply and help with treatment that you guys currently have in well four,” said Nobel. 

“We then looked at some of your items and issues concerning the functionality of the standpipe and the high-pressure system. And there are two separate projects, but both would be on the smaller scale but have very powerful impacts. One of which is doing some inline boosters in some low-pressure areas,” said Nobel. 

Nobel said on paper this looks like it would only affect a couple of people, but it would unlock the potential and capability of the standpipe.

“For those who aren’t aware, right now currently staff is only allowed to use a small amount percentage of the total amount of the standpipe,” said Nobel. “The reason that is, is because once that level gets down too low, other folks actually end up being way too low in the pressure, below what’s recommended. So by boosting up pressure for those individuals, we now unlock capability in the standpipe.” 

Nobel said this project would allow city staff more flexibility and address concerns occurring at the standpipe, like lack of turning over of water, quality and icing.

Additionally, Nobel said the city has two sides to the system—a high-pressure system and a low-pressure system. 

“And for too long, the best way to think about it is, they haven’t been talking to each other. There’re not really any great interconnections between those two sides,” said Nobel. “You can actually make interconnections there, and you can do what’s known as Pressure Reducing Valves or PRVs where you’re knocking pressure from the high side so it allows water to flow to the low side.” 

Nobel said this brings additional sustainability for the system. 

Lastly, AE2S recommended the long-term growth and support of having an additional ground storage reservoir. 

The next step is to send the master plan to the state for approval to close out the Small Community Planning Grant that the city was awarded. 

After that, Nobel said AE2S had been pushing hard to get onto the State Water Plan by May 1. However, it came to its attention that the state has an annual cycle for awarding funding, and all state grant funds have already been allocated for 2024. 

Nobel recommended waiting to add the master plan until the final quarter of 2024 and then preparing to be on the first quarter funding request in 2025.

“This gives the city the best opportunity to go after additional state grants and principal forgiveness as well as not start your clock on the State Water Plan. Just as a quick reminder, you have three years once you’ve been added to the State Water Plan at which time you either have to make a modification or you have to re-up,” said Nobel. 

The total projected cost of these projects is $5.5 millio. 

“That’s a big number, and we recognized that. Understand that this is just the next step that even as you go forward to being added to the State Water Plan, and even after you request funding, and even after you get a funding package back from the state, there are multiple opportunities for the city to choose and take what they feel best for both the system as well as the ratepayers and constituents here,” said Nobel. 

Worst-case scenario, Nobel said AE2S took the total amount of user accounts, the total project costs and assumed a 30-year loan through the SRF Program at a 3.75 percent rate, which is the current rate, plus additional fees and administrative items. Then, it took what the total monthly repayment would be and divided it by the total user accounts. This came to a surcharge of $50 per month per ratepayer for 30 years.

Additionally, Nobel said there was discussion about doing a rate survey for the city to potentially have a commercial rate and a residential rate. Alderman Ethan Walker said it did not seem fair to charge residents the same rate as commercial businesses. 

For the purpose of this report, Nobel said AE2S wanted to give an understanding of what $5.5 million could truly mean for the citizens. It provided a snapshot of the worst-case scenario. This did not take into account any grants, principal forgiveness or other options that may be available to the city. There are also multiple options for repaying a loan. 

Nobel said, “Just understand, this is the report. As you move forward, we hope that you go forward, get funding, get a great funding package from the state that doesn’t even come close to any of these rate increases.”

According to Nobel, this is also just one of the first steps in a multi-step process since the city will still have to do the design, find the site, go out to bid and complete construction. 

Ultimately, Nobel said the master plan is a great product that gives the council a roadmap to move forward. He said it is a great report not because of what AE2S did, but because of all the input from city staff and council members. 

“This is an unbelievable, comprehensive report that you’ve gone in-depth in and given us a picture that’s extremely clear,” said alderman Dale Householder. 

Mayor Mike Verchio agreed saying in his eight years in the state legislature, “This is by far the most complete, most professional one I’ve ever seen. They did an outstanding job.” 

Verchio reminded the council that they were not spending any money at the meeting. The only agenda was to approve the report and send it to the state. 

Alderwoman Lori Miner said, “You identified that our two ground storage tanks and then our silo tank are in fair to poor condition, I believe just generally speaking across all three. But yet in the overall plan, replacement of those isn’t on the list. 

“So are you thinking that they’re good to go for a while, that we could get through if we chose all of the items on page 47 and then go to those? Or are they going to have to be worked into there somewhere?” 

Jones said, “On the one hand, your big blue storage tank cannot be taken offline currently so maintenance has been delayed. We wanted to give you an option with an additional big blue. Essentially, it’s a smaller capacity, but the same elevation so you can take it offline and do maintenance. It’s possible that with the right maintenance on the tank that it would increase its service life.” 

In talking about this, Nobel said, “Your two pressure systems don’t talk to each other. So what we’re recommending is not only putting in this other tank so that it can help your current standpipe come offline but also be that additional support for any growth in the low-pressure zone because everything would basically flow through the high-pressure zone and filter through the high and the low-pressure zone. 

“So the way that we framed this is, we’re trying to maximize your bang for the buck. By having this tank on the high-pressure zone doesn’t just help improve the storage capacity in the high-pressure zone. It improves storage capacity for the entire system. And that allows you then to do not just maintenance on big blue, but other maintenance on these other items.”

Jones said, “We also feel like it’s your most efficient way to operate your water system. You pump it one time to the high elevation, and then let gravity do the work after.”

A resident asked how adjusting the pressure would affect residents’ and their appliances. Nobel said the only people who would see a significant increase would be a handful of people on the backend of the boosted line, and it would likely help their systems. 

J“We’re not advocating raising the current storage tank elevation so there shouldn’t be higher pressure besides those few homes that are impacted with the booster pumps that are suffering from very low-pressure today,” Jones said.

The council unanimously approved the Water Facility Master Plan. 

The next meeting of the Hill City Common Council is Monday, April 22 at 5:30 p.m. at city hall.