{"id":6420,"date":"2022-01-30T15:00:15","date_gmt":"2022-01-30T15:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/?p=6420"},"modified":"2022-01-30T15:00:15","modified_gmt":"2022-01-30T15:00:15","slug":"kaw-lake-project-expected-to-ripple-through-enids-vast-water-utilities-system-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/?p=6420","title":{"rendered":"Kaw Lake project expected to ripple through Enid’s vast water utilities system | News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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ENID, Okla. \u2014<\/span> After making a quick trip back to his pickup, David Hunter hoisted the cast-steel pick end of a 2-foot-long sledgehammer to pop off the metal lid of a rusted manhole outside the city\u2019s water booster station off Imo Road.<\/p>\n

Sitting next to a ladder about 12 feet into the ground was a 30-inch-wide transmission line, busy moving thousands of gallons of raw water a day from nearby Ames to Enid.<\/p>\n

\u201cMakes you feel like you\u2019re Thor or something,\u201d he said before closing the lid back on, prompting the city\u2019s water foreman, Jay Graves, to remind him he\u2019s not supposed to do the physical labor.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, that\u2019s right, I\u2019m not supposed to do stuff. Mostly because I break things,\u201d Hunter said, laughing again.<\/p>\n

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The 30-inch transmission line coming from Ames is shown in this 12-foot-deep manhole at the city of Enid\u2019s booster station on Imo Road. (Alexander Ewald \/ Enid News & Eagle)<\/p>\n

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This specific transmission line had a major break in late-2020<\/a>, not long after the city of Enid\u2019s public utilities director started his job.<\/p>\n

Such transmission lines from the city\u2019s well fields in Ames and Drummond to the southwest pass through the booster station, which sits at a fork in the waterlines going to either of the city\u2019s two water treatment plants.<\/p>\n

The station, reactivated in 2006 after a 30-year dormancy, acts as a giant railroad switch for the city\u2019s water supply, diverting water from one plant to another as needed.<\/p>\n

But its four pumps are rarely used today, the two men explained. If something goes wrong at the booster station, then that creates a potential liability for the city\u2019s water supply, Hunter said.<\/p>\n

A new water plant being constructed for the Kaw Lake pipeline will change how water is pumped to the city, he explained, so the booster station would probably go obsolete.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy memory fails me to what\u2019s gonna happen when it\u2019s all said and done,\u201d he said about the station. \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ll have the need for this, is the answer, but I\u2019m not totally sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Public Utilities Director David Hunter stands in the basement of the city of Enid\u2019s booster station on Imo Road on Dec. 30, 2021. (Alexander Ewald \/ Enid News & Eagle)<\/p>\n

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Less of a balancing act<\/h3>\n

Once the switch is flipped on Enid\u2019s massive Kaw Lake water supply program, possibly taking the Imo booster station offline wouldn\u2019t be the only major change to the city\u2019s so-called \u201cinvisible infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with supplying Enid with a consistent source of potable water, the project, which recently began construction, is also expected to alleviate the city utilities staff\u2019s burden of constantly balancing and maintaining the city\u2019s water sources located throughout Northwest Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s third water treatment plant, already being built on West Chestnut next door<\/a> to one of the city\u2019s other centers, would receive nearly twice as much water as its sibling plants already do \u2014 more than doubling Enid\u2019s daily average water supply.<\/p>\n

This plant, which would need its own staffing, would specifically treat the average 10.5 million gallons of water expected to come every day from Kaw Lake 70 miles away.<\/p>\n

Enid\u2019s main treatment plant, also located off West Chestnut, processes an average 5 million gallons of water a day; a fifth as much water is treated at the secondary treatment plant.<\/p>\n

Construction began on the plant last fall, while the city has yet to commence building the actual pipeline connecting it to the lake.<\/p>\n

Hunter said Enid\u2019s definition of raw water would change practically overnight when the project is done in the next several years.<\/p>\n

The city currently uses only water from the ground. Kaw\u2019s surface water, though, necessitated building an entirely new treatment plant, as surface water is regulated differently under the EPA\u2019s Safe Drinking Water Act.<\/a><\/p>\n

Unlike Enid\u2019s current groundwater sources, surface water algae, bacteria and other wildlife are found in the reservoir water. Rain and storms also can churn up a lake\u2019s dirt and sediment, which could change the water quality and require additional treatment, Hunter said.<\/p>\n

Enid\u2019s wells are relatively shallow compared with the rest of the country, but weather forecasts don\u2019t affect them as quickly as a surface water source, he said.<\/p>\n

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Water pump control panels are shown at the city of Enid’s secondary water treatment plant on West Chesnut on Dec. 30, 2021. (Alexander Ewald \/ Enid News & Eagle)<\/p>\n

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\u201cStuff that happens under the surface has a level of protection and separation from any type of contamination versus the surfacing (water),\u201d Hunter said. \u201cIf it happens, it happens tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well fields are prioritized with low nitrate counts, and the run order of each plant\u2019s pumps is based on the nitrates in the order, Graves said.<\/p>\n

The longer a well is pumped, the more nitrate builds up in the supply, he said, so city water workers have to seesaw which wells are turned in order to to meet drinking water standards.<\/p>\n

Partly because of this balancing act, not all of Enid\u2019s water wells run at the same time, Graves said.<\/p>\n

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This map provided by the city of Enid from its SCADA system shows the city’s 400 miles of water transmission lines from its well fields in Cleo Springs, Ames, Drummond and Ringwood to Enid’s two treatment plants.<\/p>\n

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Nitrates are monitored through daily measurements as per state water quality requirements. High levels can result from improper well construction, well location, overuse of chemical fertilizers or improper disposal of human and animal waste, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n

\u2018Doing it all ourselves\u2019<\/h3>\n

Enid is already one of (if not the) largest groundwater users in the state, according to the Oklahoma Water Resources Board. The city obtains its water from a total 166 wells \u2014 five well fields are developed in eight locations, from three groundwater aquifers in Northwest Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

Pumps of varying horsepower and size at well field plants in Cleo Springs, Ames and Ringwood push the water through several transmission systems to Enid\u2019s two treatment plants, whose pumps then push the then-treated water to the city\u2019s 50,000 residents through nearly 400 miles of main lines.<\/p>\n

With the western treatment plant serving that half of the city, the central plant at the Enid Service Center complex also serves customers north and east of Enid, including outside consumers such as Koch Fertilizer\u2019s plant near Enid and the Oxbow Calcining plant near Kremlin.<\/p>\n

Hunter said other cities of Enid\u2019s size tend to contract to a larger entity to handle that work and may have an additional pump, too.<\/p>\n

Enid\u2019s well fields throughout Northwest Oklahoma each have between 25 to 30 wells each, which cycle in and out of operation throughout the year.<\/p>\n

A similarly sized city, though, would have around 30 wells for the entire water supply.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing it all ourselves,\u201d Hunter said. \u201cSo Enid is unique because not that many cities are doing it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunter said the size of Enid\u2019s operations can be a weakness with limited city staffing to cover such a wide range of water well fields.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, he said, if a specific well field goes down \u2014 like when the transmission line coming from Ames was damaged in late-2020 \u2014 the city won\u2019t have to bear the full brunt of suddenly being without water, and staff can easily turn on another group of wells elsewhere.<\/p>\n

To ease the city\u2019s burden, staff use the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system to electronically monitor the ongoing status of the two treatment plants, out-of-town well plants and well pumps, surge towers and elevated storage tanks.<\/p>\n

City staff also use SCADA to remotely operate the wells in the fields largely in Cleo Springs, Ames, Ringwood and Drummond. Because the city also serves Vance Air Force Base, it has restricted access into the system as well.<\/p>\n

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This screenshot shows the city of Enid’s Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, which utilities staff use to electronically operate and monitor much of the city’s massive water system both within and outside of the city. (Screenshot provided by the city of Enid)<\/p>\n

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None of Enid\u2019s 41 wells drawing water from the Enid Isolated Terrace Aquifer \u2014 located underneath the city itself \u2014 are connected to the system, Hunter said, because they were built so long ago and are in close proximity to the main treatment plant.<\/p>\n

The city also barely uses the supply from the aquifer anymore, according to OWRB .<\/p>\n

SCADA tracks the gallons per minute, pressure per square inch and chlorine levels, and its interface shows a switch similar to the ones at the actual plants and other buildings. It also tracks long-term well data, like whether a well has been running too much over the last week, six months or four years.<\/p>\n

If the interface shows an error at one of the wells or plants \u2014 for example, if a part is broken or something is overflowing \u2014 SCADA will automatically page a utilities manager, sometimes as early as 2 a.m.<\/p>\n

Errors can be one or a combination of communications failures; an electrical issue called \u201cthree-phase\u201d; or an \u201coverload,\u201d when a plant or well house panel receives too much power.<\/p>\n

Hunter said before SCADA, a man with a clipboard would go out to each well house, take a measurement, write it down and go to the next site.<\/p>\n

An operations specialist still goes out every morning to all of the plants to check the electronics, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time our guys have to go out manually or physically to a site, that\u2019s lost time,\u201d Hunter said. \u201cSo anything we can do with a click of a switch or a click of a mouse, that\u2019s what we want.\u201d<\/p>\n