By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
The Environmental Protection Agency may require Mona to
monitor the culinary water system for arsenic.
"So far, Mona's source is not a concern for arsenic,"
said Doran Kay, council member. "The EPA has a list of some
of the towns that need to be concerned about arsenic in
their drinking water and Mona does not appear on the list
anywhere."
When the new well begins to produce and that water is
part of the system, he said, the town may be required to
begin that monitoring program.
"When we start operating the well, we will be pulling
underground water into our system. Perhaps then we will be
subject to arsenic monitoring."
All of the new and stricter requirements being imposed on
culinary water systems throughout the state had a price tag.
"All of these types of monitoring and sampling are going to
cost us some money," he said.
Monitoring may cost the town more than $2,000 per
quarter.
•Mona Town Council members agreed to authorize the
issuance of a water revenue bond, series 2000, and adopt a
bond resolution authorizing the issuance of the bond.
Doran Kay, council member responsible for the water
system, received word from bond counsel, Ken Chamberlain,
Chamberlain Associates, LLC, that the resolution should be
on the agenda for Tuesday evening.
"We will be borrowing an extra $100,000," said Kay. "The
amount will roll over and will add five years to the
repayment plan."
There will be a $51,000 payment each year, he said. The
payment amount has not changed but will extend to 25 years
instead of the 20 years originally set for the first bond.
That bond was used for development of the new well drilled
and put into service this past year.
The council is tentatively planning to hold a hearing for
the issuance of the bonds during the first week of
November.
"The Utah State Division of Drinking Water has agreed to
the plan as we presented," said Kay.
The extra money is needed, he said, to complete the water
project. The project is going over budget even though some
parts of the project were trimmed after the first bond was
awarded.
"The project is also being more expensive than what the
engineers had projected. They projected it to be a $686,000
project," said Kay. "We (council members) thought, perhaps,
we could take $50,000 out of the town cash flow to finalize
the project and not have to finance any of it. However,
that's not going to happen anymore."
Included in the new amount is $10,000. The money is
projected for expenses the town may incur in discovering
what problems the water line under the freeway has and, if
needed, to pay for enlarging the line.
"All phases of the project have been completed to date
except the pump station for the well," said Kay. "The amount
of money that was approved for the project has been used and
Mona is in need of additional funding assistance to finish
this last phase of the project."
Kay said the previous application the town had submitted
was recent enough that another application did not need to
be done. An addendum was added to the previous
application.
"Extending the term of our loan from 20 years to 25 years
will allow us to manage our cash flow within our existing
budget," he said.
•The low bidder on the final phase of the culinary
storage system wants to work with Mona so the project can be
completed with a protective structure built to house the
expensive electrical equipment used at the well.
K&P Plumbing, Orem, entered the low bid of $76,000 to
install the pumping equipment and the needed valves for the
water project.
"Steve Kay, of K&P Plumbing, said he was concerned
about the $12,000 worth of switches we have," said Doran
Kay, council member responsible for the water project. "They
will be on a steel rack inside a steel box, but they could
be damaged by a gunshot."
Steve Kay said he would be willing to go ahead and erect
a protective building of concrete block and then accept the
pay for the construction July 2001.
A building was part of the original plan for the water
project but was scrapped for lack of funds.
"The $76,000 bid includes equipping the well with a
submersible pump and a transducer. A transducer will act as
a safety precaution for the submersible pump in the event
that the water level in the well drops below the water
pump."
A pump control valve will be needed and, like the
transducer, will require a change order, said Kay, unless
another method of funding it can be found so that it will
not have to be part of the change order which would cost the
town more money.
"There's a possibility we can have the Rural Water Users
help us with that particular device. Maybe it would be
cheaper for Mona to go that route," said Kay.
"If he (Steve Kay) is willing to construct the building
now and take pay later, I think we should go ahead and
complete the project," said Bryce Lynn, mayor.
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