Happy New Year!!!

I hope it is a great year for us. I am happy to leave 2009 behind us!
Maria

Labor and Industries...

L and I have been promising to come for a week to inspect the generator installation so that we may use it. They cancelled again today saying that they will try to make it this week. If anyone has any pull at L and I that is our current delay in being able to use the generator.

If your water pressure is not better yet, please remember the system has not yet been switched over to the new system. I know it seem as if we are done as hookups continue to be completed, that you may be on the new system. That is not true yet...we have to wait for everyone to be hooked up and then we switch to the new pipes. It will be very exciting. I will keep you posted.
As you can see from the last post, switching the meters out has been more laborious than previously expected.

Hang in there!

Update on delays...from our Contractor

Maria, wanted to update everyone on where we’re at with the services. The meters are all installed at the lots where we did not install new main. We’ve been working on the meter hookups on 316th that we’re originally served from 314th. This is a difficult and time consuming exercise as we have to dig half way across each lot to the back of the house to find where the old service enters the house. Of the six services that are completed, we found six different pipe types and configurations, very frustrating but my guys are doing a good job and have done their best to satisfy each homeowner. We have been taking extra care to restore everyone’s yard to preconstruction levels. We have two left to complete and then we will be simple installing the remainder of the meters. The process of installing the setters and the meters should go fairly smoothly and we hope to get six to eight a day.

Pride Electric has completed the wiring for the generator and called for inspection on Fri. the 18th, they have verified that it is in L + I’s computer but the inspection had not taken place as of last night. I will continue to track this until it is inspected. We all knew there were a lot of unknowns with this job and I know it is frustrating but we are getting close, Merry Christmas and, with the completion of this new system, it will be a Happy New Year.

Update as of today....
We are still waiting for L and I to come inspect the generator hookup. They said they were going to come today, but they also said they were going to come last week. I will post once it is completed. I am so sorry for all of the unexpected delays....
The good news is that we are very close to completing our project.

Generator Work is Almost Done!

Good news! We heard today that the generator is being hooked up and inspected this week. After it clears the inspection, we will do a trial run to make sure everything is working properly with our system. If all goes well, it will be ready by this weekend!

More Info on Meters and Low Pressure

Here is more information from the contractor:

We have 29 meters installed as of last night. We are starting on 316th this morning with the services that are currently being served off of 314th. These will have to be dug up to and around the houses and will take some time. We hope to get two or three done a day. We still hope to catch up from the week of cold frozen weather and have things completed by Christmas.

As for the low pressure, all indications are that there may be broken pipes beyond the meters/shut-offs, we are not finding any issues on the main side of the shut-offs. We did some research during the cold spell and found good pressure at the meter/shut-offs but the house would have no water indicating a frozen line on the private side of the system. Continued low pressure, now that the frost is out, tells me there is in fact a cracked line on the private side. If there are multiple leaks on the private side this would cause lower pressure throughout the system. Our meter connections only effect the particular house we may be hooking up and not the whole system.

Lawyers, Lawyers, and more Lawyers....

Okay, I think you should know that a few people who are very delinquent in their accounts have hired lawyers (instead of paying their bills) to fight paying their bills. In doing so, I have to pass the lawyer expense on to the company. It looks as if we are going to have to raise rates a bit more in order to cover these legal expenses and those few who are not paying.

I don't know exactly by how much it is going to be determined by the UTC...just when we got them down a bit. I am so sorry to the majority of you that are paying on a timely basis or have agreed to make a payment plan. Unfortunately these few people...cost us thousands and it is not fair!!!

I don't know if I can tell you who they are, I will have to check with the attorney, but when you see the cost go up a bit....you will know why. I am so sorry that some of your neighbors don't feel like they need to pay their utility bill like everyone else!!!

Meter Hook-ups

We received notification that water pressure was low for some residents this morning. The contractor is in the process of connecting the water meters and while doing so must slow down or shut down the valves. Unless a problem occurs, water pressure will be restored within a half day.

Freezing Delays with Cristalina.

I just recieved the following note from the contactor,

Maria/Dick, we had a ball valve freeze and break, causing a temporary loss of pressure, we have fixed those issues but due to the continued cold weather it has been difficult to assemble the setters and make the connections before everything freezes. We’ve decided to hold off on trying to make additional connection and risk an extended interruption in service until the weather warms above freezing. We’ll continue to monitor the system daily throughout this cold period to make sure there are no problems with the system. The work on the generator will continue and according to the forecast we should be able to continue connection on Mon. Our plan is still to complete all the hookups prior to Christmas. I’ll let you know when the gen set is operational.

Now you know, exactly what Dick and I know....I am sorry about the cold weather delay, and am praying we don't have any more frozen pipes and valves. Thanks for hanging in there!!!

Generator, Broken Pipe, and More!!!

Please let me first apologize as I have gotten different stories from different people as to what is going on. To date, this is what I understand:

The generator was installed but it was not hooked up. I thought everything was good to go, but it wasn't. I didn't understand that installed didn't include the "hooking up". That being said they tried to hook up the generator this weekend only to find it did not have the standard switch. Yesterday I was told that it is going to cost an additional $7,000 to hook it up. I am looking into funding sources to pay for this unexpected expense.

On top of that, there was a break in the pipes due to the cold this weekend. I was not aware until Monday morning when we were contacted by our customers. This is another expense that was not anticipated.

Now for the good news. I am told by Tom that he thinks that the final hook ups should be completed this month and we can switch over to the new water system. This is the plan. If there is an emergency that comes up then the plans will change and we will notify you as soon as we get additional information.

This system is old, this is not an exact science and we have had more than one unexpected surprise, but we are moving forward to improve your water service as best as we can, as fast as we can!

Here's to the rest of the project going smoothly!

12/06/09 Water Pressure

We received numerous emails from Cristalina customers regarding the lack of water pressure on Sunday, December 6. As your emails were our first notification of the issue we were unable to provide earlier information on the cause, but we have determined that the issue was due to a pipe that was frozen and broke. While our contractor and water operator searched for the broken pipe last night, they were unable to find and fix it until this morning. The water pressure has now been restored.

We're very sorry for the inconvenience! Please contact us if you have any additional questions!

Well House Tie-in Installation

The installation of the tie in at the well house went well; a bit longer than we thought but without problems. The next step is to fill the last remaining runs, expel the air in the system and do our pressure test. We will then flush the system, get purities and start to hook up the individual services. Once the individual services have been completed and we are not going up and down the road with equipment, we'll grade the roads to a higher standard than when we started. Check out the photos of the installation below!

Road Plan Update...

I have had several questions regarding the plan for the road. Here is the response from the Contractor:

"The plan is to continue to place rock and regrade the roads as the winter progresses until all trench settlement is over with. That may take more than one round of grading. Putting the roads back to their “original” condition is problematic because the original condition was just gravel hard-packed. Eventually they will be the same, and probably in better condition in a way because they will have better surfacing."

I hope this answers your question

WATER SHUT OFF 11-5-09 FROM 9AM TO 2PM

The good news is we are connecting the new water main to the well. Once it is connected the contractors and engineers will be working the new main to make sure there are no issues and verify the pipes are connected well and working BEFORE we disconnect homeowners from the old system and set them up to the new system.

Please get a few buckets of water tonight you might need for flushing, etc tomorrow during the day. I am so sorry for the extra hassle but there is no other way to add the new pipe. I was hoping I would get more warning from them, but this is what I have.

You will be updated on new progress when it comes!

A note from our Contractor.

"We are DONE with the mainline on schedule, and are now preparing to begin filling the line for pressure and WQ testing maybe as early as next week. We have a few more services to install I think, but we are at the final stretch."

This is really good news!

No easy business!!!

5 feet of Shale to dig through. Pictures are worth a thousand words!!!!

We are ready NOW!!! Generator installed !!!

Dear Cristalina Customers,

Just wanted to share a photo of our new Generator!!! Because sometimes you have to see it to believe it!!! This looks like it should do the job if the power goes out!!! Just wanted you to see your surcharge dollars at work!

Cristalina uncovers one big rock!!!

Our contractors have been uncovering some crazy rocks in digging and laying the new pipe, just thought you might be interested in the biggest one found so far!!! This is no small project, and I think our contractors are doing an amazing job taking on one challenge at a time. Thanks Novastar!

Boil Water Still ON!!!

Unfortunately, we have had some unsatisfactory samples last month. 3 out of 5 were not good. We have bleached the pipes and maintained the water pressure. DOH at this point is not going to lift the boil water advisory until the system switch over, unless we can figure out some way to assure them that the water is no longer at risk.

Latest Water Test Negative for E-Coli

We can not take the boil water order off until the Department of Health Ok's it. I spoke to the Engineer Derek, and he said that he was not going to take it off until there was a significant change in the system so that there will be no more low water pressure possibilites. Unfortunately, it sounds like that will not be until the project is complete in another couple months. All I can do is update you as to the latest sample testing another one is being done tomorrow. Keep posted. I am so sorry for this, I know it has to be a huge pain!!!

Disinfecting the water system tomorrow morning!

The water operator, Dick, just informed me that he is going to be disinfecting the well and storage tank on Sunday morning.  This will leave the water smelling like chlorine for several days.  It is being used to kill any e-coli in the system.  We will then take follow up water samples and let you know how it goes. 

Thanks for your ongoing patience,

Maria 

Please boil your water!!! E-coli in sample!!!

Due to the low water pressure we had, we just got a water sample back that had traces of e-coli in it. Dick is going to take 5 more samples tomorrow and see where we are at in regards to the water. I will update you as soon as we get those samples back at to what are next step will be. Hopefully since we have had the water pressure back it will not be an issue. If it is we will have to take additional steps.

Word From Our Contractor

Everyone, we installed one stick of pipe yesterday, completed 4 services and one Blow Off (B/O), as we suspected the end of 309th was like a bowl of spaghetti. We had telephone lines, buried power lines and water services to contend with, but the guy's did a great job and did not break anything so no time was lost doing repairs.

We should make better progress today as we move towards 268th, there is a lot of stuff in the ground along 309th but once we turn the corner onto 268th it should open up nicely. We have locates along 309th and 268th so we hope to avoid most breaks, although they do not pick up everything.

I spoke with several neighbors and they are happy to see construction start. I'll try to give a daily update of our progress as time allows.

More to come.

Randy