Cloverdale utilities working to save money

CLOVERDALE -- The Town of Cloverdale's utilities department is working to reduce unnecessary costs to keep water and sewer systems functional.

Town Manager Wayne Galloway has a few projects in the works to reduce costs associated water and sewer flow in the town. The changes go along with a series of alterations made to the functionality of the town which allowed a rate decrease in July 2014.

Work continues on the lift station upgrades. Galloway said the lift stations are slowly being replaced, which saves money on both electricity and water use.

"An old pump that is working hard and struggling is going to use a lot more electricity than a new pump that is working the way it's supposed to," Galloway said.

While a new pump can cost up to $8,000, some of the old pumps are reaching eight years old and are working at half-capacity.

"Once the pumps are replaced, this allows the utilities to start a routine check of the pumps to ensure they are working properly before an issue arises. Some of the old pumps the town has struggled with had not been checked for several years," Galloway explained.

"We can pull them (pumps) out and clean them. If there is nothing wrong with them, they can be reused. If there is some wear on it we can fix it right then. It's kind of like your car. You go in and change the oil instead of waiting until it just quits," Galloway explained.

Galloway said being proactive will save the town money with preventative maintenance rather than waiting until there is an unsolvable problem.

The town has seven lift stations, with four of them complete. Work is currently being done on lift station five, with other upgrades in the works with the town council.

"We will keep that on a yearly routine. Pull the pump and look at it. Now some of them are seven or eight years old and when you pull them up they are just ruined. This way, instead of $7,000 or 8,000 to replace it, it will only have a couple hundred to fix it," Galloway said.

The utilities department is also working on building a dump pit to save money on the waste removed from the lift stations.

"When you pump out the lift station, you've got to have a place to take that stuff. We put it in a pit so the liquids go back in but the solids will dry. Then you put it in the wastewater unit that goes out to IDEM (Indiana Department of Environmental Management)," Galloway explained. "It's a mess and previously we had to take the gunk to Indianapolis, which is an expensive process."

The project is still in the beginning phases, but Galloway is hopeful by working with the materials on site it will save some money.

Galloway said he is also working on putting in a clarifier pit, which will eliminate the use of the expensive treated water bill each month used to clean water treatment machines.

"The water that has been through the plant that is safe to go back through the creek will go back in this pit. We can use that for cleaning the clarifiers, for the press machine and the head works. Right now the town is using treated water, so the utilities department was racking up to $5,000 in water bills each month," Galloway said.

He learned last year the water treatment plant used almost $50,000 in treated water, which he stressed was unnecessary.

Taking a step further, Galloway said he is also looking into a way to make money for the town by implementing a curbside water station.

Currently, the town is using a fire hydrant to sell bulk water provided by the town, which he said some people have turned down because of the "old school way," he said.

"We have had a couple semis come in wanting water, but wouldn't fill from the hydrant," Galloway said.

Next week, Galloway will be asking the town council to implement the geographic information system (GIS), which will provide GPS coordinates for meters and valves, as well as provide easily accessible work orders.

While the initial start-up costs total more than $20,000, it would reduce man hours by providing easy location to water meters and other equipment. Galloway said most of the paper maps, which are numerous and bulky, are only about 80 percent accurate. It will also help when bringing in new employees and hand-held access to work orders will reduce travel between work sites and the Town Hall.