By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
Several residents of Parsons were on hand at the City of Parsons Council Meeting October 21st to voice their concerns over not only the proposed water rate increase and final reading of the increase ordinance, but also the quality of the water and issues many have been having within in the City. Residents Betty Knicely, Michael Moore and Charles Rhodes spoke to the Council about their water concerns and problems.
Betty Knicely said she has been having issues with not only discoloration, but pressure issues. Knicely, who is elderly and on a fixed income, said she has had to repeatedly pay servicemen to address the issue with little results. Both Water and Sewer Department Director Red Lipscomb and City of Parsons Administrator informed Knicely at the meeting that in the future, she should call the City and they would send someone out to address the issue.
Moore addressed the Council with concerns about the discoloration. He said he was there on behalf of himself as a citizen as well as having spoken with several of his neighbors with similar concerns. “You can’t take a shower. You can’t wash clothes,” Moore said. Moore also asked why his grass turned brown where a recent water line leak was located. “It came up out of the ground,” Moore said of the water. “And it run on my yard, probably killed a third of my yard.” Moore asked the Council, “Why am I paying for City water for bathing and drinking when I can’t use it? And I’m still purchasing bottled water?”
Moore said he has spoken to Water and Sewer Department Director Red Lipscomb. “I feel for Red,” Moore said. “There’s just so much he can do.”
Pulp Mill Bottom resident Charles Rhodes said, “I don’t know that I agree with this, without all the lines being updated or some of them being updated.” Rhodes also spoke about water quality issues, especially the sediment that leaves the Water Plant being located in the Pulp Mill Bottom area. Rhodes said he knew that the issues that the residents of Pulp Mill Bottom were having are due to flushing of the lines where sediment is being released from the ends of the lines where they are flushed from. Rhodes said he knew they were flushing them because the water was brown and muddy. “I’m glad they flush their lines,” Rhodes said. “That helps.”
Rhodes also asked why the City was not placing hydrants in Pulp Mill Bottom, said that they could be used to not only help with flushing, but also in case of fire. Rhodes said that he knew for a fact that the old ones were no longer there.
The current water project that has been the focus of so much discussion addresses many of the issues that residents of the City have been facing, but it does not address water lines such as those spoken of by Moore and Rhodes. At the current time, the Water Department is still using lines that are over 70 years old, according to the entirety of the system, which have been patched time and again through the years. The project also does not include the addition of new hydrants.
Mayor Dorothy Judy told those present that the issues being spoken of by Moore and Rhodes would be perceived it could affect a grant for a second project to update the rest of the lines. “There’s a lot of fixed income in this town and these people are going to pay more than they are paying for medicine, they’re paying half of their check or more for their utilities and their income is just I know this because I hear it all the time,” Judy said.
Rhodes, who is not a full time resident, but is often, said the town struggles mainly out of convenience. He said, “They want to live on a fixed income, but they want to live here. So they struggle to pay the current prices.” He said he knew no one wanted to have the water rates be raised further.
The issues the City of Parsons are currently facing come during a time that non-compliance with the new State regulations should take precedence, Parsons City Administrator Agnes Teter said. During the Third and Final Reading of the bill to raise rates, Parsons Mayor Dorothy Judy said, “This is not a bill we want to pass. A bill we have to pass.” Judy also said the state bills is need to meet compliance with the rules set out by the Division of State regulations.
“According to our report, they had us raise our rates six percent,” Simmons said. “And we didn’t.” Simmons went on to say that for the past three years, the City has been working with a deficit and not raising rates.
“On top of that, there is also the grant we are fixing to go into, and with grant money comes higher rates. If you want pools of grant money will be available to the City that would not be otherwise. “The more we raise our rates, the better chance we have of securing federal funding,” Simmons said. Simmons went on to say that he also felt that they did make a mistake with the first rate increase. “I will tell you, if I’m honest, I think we made a mistake.”
The first phase of the project is also funded through a grant, Teter said. The project is an estimated 10.3 million dollar undertaking. The rate increase, larger potential for grants and the rise in cost of parts, materials and chemicals are all what have led to the current rate hike levels, Simmons said. “We are probably going to have to do more increases down the road.”
In regards to the discolored water, Parsons Water Plant Operator Jason Hansson said, “I believe we need to do some more flushing.” Hansson also told the Council that the recent discoloration could be due to the time of year with the leaves falling in the water and the river being low which leads to more sediment being pumped. “Then there’s our filtration system too is degrading.” Hansson also said he thought part of the issue was that the plant does not have a backwash system for the filters. Hansson explained the process the plant goes through, which involves turning the water off to clean the filters with a hose. The process also includes letting the water from the river settle in holding pools, but due to the size of the pools and water usage, the plant only has about three hours to let the water settle. “There is not time for the water to settle,” Hansson said. “The river water doesn’t have time to settle.”
Hansson said the project will address this and install a backwash system. He also spoke of new filtration technology that could be used. “The main plant, the guts of the building is going to stay the same,” Hansson said. “All the pumps are going to be new, but the guts of the system will be the same.” The project will also replace the lines from the plant that go into the river which pulls water into the plant. Hansson told the Council that the lines that currently lead into the river have holes in them which pull ground water, mud and other things into the plant that also has an effect on the filtration. “It pulls local ground water and turns outta the river when the river is low and we have the big pumps turned down. Degrading and breakdown of those intake lines that’s causing problems,” Hansson said. “It is on the project.”
In order to eliminate the concerns about flushing the lines, Hansson told the Council that he was left with no choice but to start flushing in the mornings due to the state requirements of having two people on site for flushing. Hansson said the other operator works in the evenings and due to the state of the art lines.
Hansson personally passed his phone number to Moore and asked Moore to call him with any issues. Moore discussed the possibility of a tour of the Water Plant with the Council and Hansson said he would gladly give him one, but he needed council permission due to the nature of the facility.
