Colfax considers “alarm dialer” and other improvements for water tower

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX — What if, when there is a problem with the water tower, a system was set up to automatically dial the cell phones of village employees to let them know there is a problem?

The Colfax sewer system is set up with an alarm dialer if something goes wrong, and it works very well, said Rand Bates, director of public works, at the Colfax Village Board’s September 11 meeting.

An alarm dialer for the water system could be equally as useful, Bates said.

The issue of an alarm dialer and other improvements for the water tower, such as a switch to allow backup pressure control, are particularly pertinent after the problems with the water tower and boil water order for Colfax.

A water system computer error caused a loss of pressure in the Colfax water system on Saturday, June 10. Village employees started chlorinating the water immediately and running the pumps, but the loss of pressure also required a precautionary “boil water” order to make sure the water was safe to use.

A loss of water pressure in the water tower can allow contaminants to enter the water system.

Village residents were under a boil water order from Saturday morning, June 10, until 1:45 p.m. Wednesday, June 14.

The situation with the water tower in June could have been caused by lightning strike or a power surge and “was not normal for the equipment,” Bates said at the September 11 meeting.

The Commercial Testing Lab also reported problems with some of their equipment, he noted.

The water tower has 24 hours of water storage. On the morning of June 10, the water tower had 21 feet of water with the appropriate pressure, and in fact the water pressure “was fine” all over town, Bates said.

But almost from one minute to the next, the water tower went from 21 feet of water to no water in the tower, but equipment was indicating a “high water” alarm. The high water alarm kicks in at 24 feet of water, he explained.

After that, village employees started the emergency chlorination of the water system, Bates said.

In a situation like the June 10 incident, the alarm dialer would have called the appropriate people, he said.

Colfax does not have to do the improvements to the water tower, but the improvements are a recommendation from the state Department of Natural Resources, Bates said.

“It would be pretty handy. Especially the dialer part,” he said.

Even when the emergency generator kicks in, the alarm dialer would call, Bates said.

Proposals

The village board’s packet contained two proposals for improvements to the water tower.

The proposal from B&M Technical Services out of Coloma was for $9,520, and the proposal from Altronex Control Systems out of Madison was for $10,477.

Mark Halpin, village trustee, wondered if the improvements to the water tower would require other improvements to the system.

“No,” Bates replied.

Village Trustee Keith Burcham asked if the water tower improvements could be considered for the 2018 budget.

“This is a recommendation from the DNR. We get lots of recommendations from the DNR, and we don’t do most of them. We can definitely wait for the budget on this,” Bates said.

Bates said he was required to type up a letter to the DNR about the water tower problem in June, what village employees had done to correct the problem and what had been found out about the cause of the problem.

“This could have been a one in a million situation,” Bates said.

The village board can either act now on the proposals or put the item for water tower improvements into the 2018 budget, said Gary Stene, village president.

“I think it’s a good investment,” he said.

Any situation requiring a boil water order creates a liability for the village if someone gets sick from using the water. And if there is a problem that occurs outside of normal work hours, then the village is paying overtime for the employees to work on correcting the problem, he said.

If the water tower improvements are put in the 2018 budget, then the village can set aside money to pay for the improvements, said Dave Wolff, village trustee.

The Colfax Village Board unanimously approved a motion to table the water tower improvements until the 2018 budget discussion.

Village Trustee Casey Rihn was absent from the meeting.

In addition to Stene, Burcham, Wolff and Halpin, village trustees Carey Davis and Annie Schieber voted in favor of the motion.