Council Reviews Water Model

WAITSBURG – The City of Waitsburg has a new tool to help with future planning related to the city’s water system. Anderson-Perry Technical Manager Howard Boggs introduced the city’s newly developed water model at the Oct. 29 city council meeting.

The city requested the water model earlier this year, initiated partly by the proposed Whoopemup Meadows housing development and also to help the city identify weaknesses in the current water system.

“We always had a good idea of what the city’s water system could generate and accommodate, but the model allows us to pinpoint different potential impacts based on various deficiencies in the distribution system,” said City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe.

Boggs explained that Waitsburg has a small water system management plan, typically used for smaller cities that are not expanding, versus a regular water system plan. The small water system plan exempts Waitsburg from many of the requirements and upgrades that cities with regular plans must meet.

“One of the downfalls of that is that you don’t necessarily have to keep current on a model of the system that tells you where you problems may lie. A water model takes into consideration all of the existing piping, measures fire flows, and calibrates and calculates where you have deficiencies and what kind of fire flows you can get, and those types of things,” Boggs said.

Included in the water model is an upgraded map of the system that includes all the work done in the last 10 years. The model includes figures representing existing fire hydrant coverage, a map of hydrants unable to deliver 1,000 gallons per minute, existing system deficiencies, the proposed Whoopemup Meadows subdivision, among others.

Boggs said Waitsburg is unique in that the city’s water source, Coppei Springs, gravity flows into the system at approximately 500 gpm and provides sufficient water to meet all the city’s water demands for about 60% of the year. When more water is needed, it is supplied by one or more of the city’s wells.

“Waitsburg has more water than most communities. Maybe a little bit of trouble distributing it, but you’ve got really good quantities of water available,” Boggs said.

The section of the report detailing existing water system deficiencies lists several hydrants with fire flow of under 1,000 gpm and several sections of the city served by long service lines that are not looped. The area from Taggart Road east to the city limits is served by undersized water mains, the only hydrant that serves the high school is on the opposite side of the highway and the fairgrounds area does not have fire protection.

Information provided in the water model makes it a valuable tool in city planning and for prioritizing water system improvements.