Water board receives project, water loss updates

Before a joint work session and executive session of the Enterprise Water Board and the Enterprise City Council on Wednesday, April 10, the board received updates on several city water projects and water loss revenue.

An update on the city’s waterline replacement project was provided by Field Superintendent Alan Mahan, who told the water board the project was about 10 percent complete.

“Currently, they’re on Martin Street,” he said, adding work is also being done on Paschal and Mixson Streets. “Once they finish that, they’ll be moving probably over toward around Andrews (Street): Andrews, Alberta (Street), Laurel Circle area.

“The contractor’s working very well, cleaning up behind himself very well and the project’s moving in the right direction,” he said.

Board Chairman John L. Mitchell asked if the project was on time for completion. Enterprise Consulting Engineer Glenn Morgan, from Poly Inc., said the project is “pretty good on time.”

Mahan also provided an update on water loss revenue, explaining how the city has reached almost 50 percent decrease in water loss from this time last year.

“This time last year, it was 158 million gallons lost,” he said. “This year, it’s down to 84 million gallons. We went from an average of 18.93 percent per month of loss down to 11.35 percent of loss. The total cut on water loss is currently 46.52 percent.

“I really want to thank everybody for working with me to help reduce this.”

Council member Eugene Goolsby asked Mahan to explain how water loss has decreased.

“I got with the other department heads back in October, and just asked that we wouldn’t irrigate during the months that the grass is dormant,” Mahan said. “Of course, I checked with professionals… and they told me that the grass is mostly dormant between October and March.”

He said water losses have been increasing over the past couple of years because of added irrigation areas.

“They were very receptive of working with me on this, so that’s the result of them working with me, working together and reducing it those six months,” Mahan said.

He said fewer days of irrigation during the rest of the year should also lead to reduced water loss.

“We’re looking at everything,” he said. “Of course, we’re trying to do our part while replacing all these old water lines. That’s going to help reduce it as well. There’s a lot of things we’re doing right now, different areas that we’re working to reduce it now.”

A water tank rehab project on Highway 167 is expected to be completed by the end of April, Mahan also told the board.

“They’re moving along well on this tank,” he said. “They stayed on it pretty hard. They worked seven days a week up there on this thing, so they’ve moved very swiftly in getting this tank rehabbed.”

He said the only work left on the tank is to put the city logo on its outside, sharing a photo of the completed tank with the water board. Morgan said the project was originally expected to be completed in June.

“It’s moving in the right direction,” he said. “We should have it online, I hope, by the end of April.”

Following Mahan’s updates, Goolsby shared his suggestion of adding more members.

“I mentioned at our last council meeting… I had recommended that the water board go from three members to five,” he said. “Rainer (Cotter) did some research to see what’s involved with that, and it’s not real complicated.”

He said he believed “five heads” were better for the board, and any changes, if made, would not happen before the next administration.

Following the water board work session, the city council joined the board in an executive session to discuss real estate and economic development.