Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy New Year!!!

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

Monday, December 28, 2009

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.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

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.

Monday, December 14, 2009

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.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

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!

Monday, December 7, 2009

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!