1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:08,000 We would be on. >> Can y'all hear me? 2 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:11,920 » Yeah. >> Okay. Um I'm Tom Dark. I'm the chief 3 00:00:10,639 --> 00:00:16,240 administrative officer for the city of Shreport and I am by appointment of the 4 00:00:13,759 --> 00:00:21,520 governor, the chair of the clean water task force for the city of Shreport. Um, 5 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:27,760 it was created by a house concurrent resolution that was passed this year and 6 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:32,960 it was pass it was it was sponsored by Representative Walters who is here and 7 00:00:29,679 --> 00:00:38,960 we'll give you a chance in a second. Um, we we welcome you here. Um, we this is 8 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:43,920 the second of our meetings. We met last last month. We will meet again once a 9 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:48,960 month probably in September and October. Um, we are required to put out a report 10 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:54,960 by I think Um, so we'll be doing that. Um, I'd like 11 00:00:53,039 --> 00:01:00,320 for the task force members who are here to introduce themselves to 12 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:05,119 Jesse. I represent the Louisiana Department of Quality. 13 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:09,920 » Good afternoon. I'm Kiana. I represent the Department of Water. 14 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:14,320 » Good afternoon. Thank you for being here. Brand director of water and sewer 15 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:17,759 environmental services. I'm Barbara Featherston, Louisiana 16 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:22,640 Department of Health, >> West Environmental Services Manager in 17 00:01:20,159 --> 00:01:27,280 the city's water department. >> I'm Sharon Dunn and I'm a citizen of 18 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:32,640 Streetport, but it was written into the legislation that a an administrator of 19 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:35,520 LSU Health Sciences will be here and I'm the dean of the school health and 20 00:01:34,479 --> 00:01:39,280 science. >> We have three other members who are not 21 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:43,840 with us, at least not yet. Um Dr. Dr. Jimmy Jones who's the CEO of Accent 22 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:49,600 Development of Shreport was specifically named in the legislation to be on there 23 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:53,759 and representatives of LSUS and Southern LSU's representative is Dr. Chris Greece 24 00:01:52,159 --> 00:01:59,040 who is the chair of the department of chemistry and physics and southern 25 00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:02,079 traports is Dr. John Galotus who is the dean of workforce development and 26 00:02:00,399 --> 00:02:05,600 associate associate professor of chemistry. Uh at this time it' be 27 00:02:04,079 --> 00:02:09,960 perhaps good to have representative Walters greet everyone and say hello. 28 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:20,959 Good. >> Testing. Testing. 29 00:02:18,319 --> 00:02:27,200 » Good afternoon everyone. I am Representative Joy Walters. Uh you are 30 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:34,080 in district 4. So uh thank you so much CEO and chair Dark for coming to 31 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:41,440 district 4 first. uh and um I created this task force to uh to explore uh what 32 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:48,319 is going on with our our water because in the legislature we received uh year 33 00:02:44,640 --> 00:02:53,200 after year a grade. Um and so far since I've been there it's been um an S. Last 34 00:02:50,959 --> 00:02:59,040 year of course it's upgraded to a D. Now we're back at an F. Uh and that's a a 35 00:02:55,760 --> 00:03:03,920 concern of of mine. Um my grandmother she was an educator. She retired with 36 00:03:01,519 --> 00:03:10,720 the mattress plus 30. Um, and I cannot bring an F or a D to her house. Uh, and 37 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:16,640 so, um, I look at it from the standpoint we don't want to, um, have F or D grade 38 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:20,720 water going into people's homes, um, either. And so, thank you all for being 39 00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:23,200 here. >> Mayor, would you like to speak for a 40 00:03:22,879 --> 00:03:24,959 second? >> I'm just here to listen. 41 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:30,879 » You're just here to listen. All right, good deal. Um 42 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:36,400 we were tasked as a as a as a task force group to evaluate the current situation 43 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:40,000 in the water department water system from a whole lot of standpoints from 44 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:44,560 infrastructure from management from sustainability. Uh the the requirements 45 00:03:42,879 --> 00:03:48,799 we have are to make recommendations to improve system reliability, water 46 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:54,080 quality, affordability, what's called long-term resilience. 47 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:58,319 Um, what I'm going to ask you to do, you see that TV behind you? We have a we 48 00:03:56,879 --> 00:04:02,959 have a presentation that was supposed to be on this one and the projector wasn't 49 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:05,599 where we needed. So, I'm going to talk, but if you want to if you want to turn 50 00:04:04,319 --> 00:04:10,920 around and turn your back on me, it's okay. All right. If it needs to, I'll 51 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:10,920 I'll come over there. 52 00:04:16,959 --> 00:04:26,000 » Time's traveling salvation show here. Um Chris, you can go ahead and advance it. 53 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:32,160 Um we got here, this task force was actually created a year or so ago by the 54 00:04:28,639 --> 00:04:35,680 legislative session a year ago. And for a number of reasons, nothing 55 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:41,840 particularly happened for that year. So, Representative Walkers recreated it. And 56 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:47,520 so what it it really was started, I think, because in the late part of 2024, 57 00:04:45,199 --> 00:04:50,880 the city had a couple of water issues. one particularly manganesees in the 58 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:56,000 water. Then a little bit later in the winter we had an issue with 59 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:59,360 an algae form called giosa that gave us some taste and odor issues. So it was 60 00:04:57,840 --> 00:05:05,360 timely at about the time this was originally created. Um it was also 61 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:09,759 created as representative Walter said in response to the grades we've gotten. U 62 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:15,280 we met uh right at the end of July. We're meeting tonight. We'll meet again 63 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:21,120 in September and October. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Okay. 64 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:28,560 See those two bottles up there where I was sitting? One of them is quite cloudy 65 00:05:25,280 --> 00:05:33,039 and one of them is quite clear. Quite Brandon's going to hold them. That's 66 00:05:29,840 --> 00:05:39,199 what we do here. Um the one in Brandon's right hand is cross lake water. It is 67 00:05:36,639 --> 00:05:43,759 what we start out with. That's straight plant. That's what comes into the lake. 68 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:48,160 » That's straight from the lake. And that is what comes out out of the plant 69 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:53,840 heading towards your house. We do all that for one half of a cent per gallon. 70 00:05:51,759 --> 00:05:58,560 Um in fact, we were talking about it today. We a lot of water customers in 71 00:05:56,720 --> 00:06:04,880 the city use about 4,000 gallons of water a month. We will sell you that 72 00:06:01,199 --> 00:06:11,120 4,000 gallons of water for about $17. Um if you bought that in gallon jugs at 73 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:16,000 Walmart, it would cost you $6,000. So that's that's the way to compare 74 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:20,800 this. We you know we we have our own set of issues from time to time. But what we 75 00:06:17,840 --> 00:06:24,720 are doing is taking that ugly stuff and turning it into something really you 76 00:06:22,479 --> 00:06:28,800 know palatable and for most folks drinkable. We will tell you later that 77 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:32,800 some people have perceptions that it isn't. But everybody's pallet is 78 00:06:30,639 --> 00:06:36,639 different and by by no means everyone thinks that. I'm going to give you the 79 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:44,080 really short version of how we treat water. It comes in uh as raw water. Um 80 00:06:41,280 --> 00:06:49,520 we it has a whole lot of things in it. It has some some organic matter, dirt, 81 00:06:47,199 --> 00:06:55,120 whatever else you might have. And so we have to to at some point pre-treat it a 82 00:06:52,319 --> 00:07:00,240 little bit to make sure that um you know we we get the pH balanced right so it's 83 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:04,000 easier to treat later. We also do some pre-treating now that we weren't doing 84 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:09,280 at some point early in the manganesees process. We learned that if we did some 85 00:07:05,919 --> 00:07:15,120 pre-treatment early, we were able to uh to get that out of the water better. Um 86 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:21,199 but what really happens after that is that we we in effect settle all the the 87 00:07:17,919 --> 00:07:25,199 clumps of stuff out of the water. Um it starts out you you have little clumps 88 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:29,759 that eventually are formed into bigger clumps and eventually are are separated 89 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:36,720 from the rest of the water by a whole series of settling processes. Um we use 90 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:41,520 a couple of chemicals to do that. Um, and then we're going to filter it. We 91 00:07:38,319 --> 00:07:47,759 put we our main disinfectant is ozone. Um, that's something we did not always 92 00:07:44,639 --> 00:07:53,599 do, but but have done in in a number of years lately. It is is filtered through 93 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:56,960 carbon. It is filtered through sand. Um, what you're trying to do is get all the 94 00:07:55,280 --> 00:08:01,199 particulates out, trying to get as much of the of the biological stuff out, and 95 00:07:59,599 --> 00:08:05,759 then we put chemicals in it to make it stable and safe. We use a combination of 96 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:09,280 chlorine and ammonia called chloromine to to try to disinfect it. And we have 97 00:08:07,759 --> 00:08:14,479 to walk a very fine balance. I'll tell you about an issue we have with that 98 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:18,720 later. But the idea is at the end of the city's lines, we are required to have a 99 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:23,360 certain amount of chlorine in the water to keep it disinfected. So, not only is 100 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:27,440 it disinfected leaving the plant, it also has at least still some 101 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:33,760 disinfectant later when it's time to uh for you to drink it. um that finished 102 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:39,919 water gets pumped out. It's fairly complicated. Um want to change the 103 00:08:36,560 --> 00:08:44,399 slide. Um we've got a thousand miles of water, a little over a thousand 104 00:08:41,680 --> 00:08:49,920 actually. And we divide the city into four different pressure zones. We have 105 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:55,839 lots of elevated water tanks and booster stations all all over town to try to 106 00:08:52,480 --> 00:09:00,480 keep the pressure as high as we can everywhere in the city. And you know, we 107 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:06,720 have we have water tanks out. One right off I 49 St. Vincent. We have one going 108 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:12,160 out I 24 Greenwood. We have one on 49 um just past Bunes. We have another one 109 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:16,800 down at Port. Um we have another one that we're working on finding a site for 110 00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:22,000 in southeast Freeport. We have elevated We have booster stations. If you come 111 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:25,279 offline, if you come off I49 South at at Interloop, you'll see a big round 112 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:29,440 building. That's a that's a ground storage station for us. We have one at 113 00:09:26,959 --> 00:09:35,360 70th in Pines out this way. We have one at 68th in Union Street. Um and we have 114 00:09:32,399 --> 00:09:38,320 what was at the old McNeel Water Plant uh in the adjacent to downtown. It was 115 00:09:36,959 --> 00:09:44,800 the original city water plant in the 1880s. Um there is a booster station 116 00:09:41,279 --> 00:09:49,120 there. Okay. Okay. Let's talk a little bit about water quality. Um we have four 117 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:52,320 issues that we that we want to talk to you about just a little bit. One of them 118 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:56,320 is taste and odor. One of them is safe drinking water and violations that we 119 00:09:54,560 --> 00:10:02,240 have there. sometimes boil oil bo oil advisories and notices and how the state 120 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:07,600 grades. Go ahead. Taste and odor, which is what really tends to get the public 121 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:13,200 most excited, is normally not a regulatory violation. It can be, but 122 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:17,680 very seldom is. Most of the time it is caused by things that are actually not 123 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:22,320 regulated as directly by the the regulatory agencies. They would be 124 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:27,120 caused by things like seasonal algae. uh they would be caused by by manganesees 125 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:31,519 and things like that. But because that is the biggest issue that we face in 126 00:10:28,959 --> 00:10:36,560 trying to make u customers happy with what comes out out the pipe, we have to 127 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:40,399 use ozone disinfectant to try to get the algae out before it ever before we ever 128 00:10:38,560 --> 00:10:46,000 settle it into the you know get the big particles out. We use ozone to help 129 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:49,839 settle. We one of the things we learned um and this will be a theme we use a 130 00:10:47,839 --> 00:10:53,279 couple of times when we have had a couple of the water quality issues that 131 00:10:51,279 --> 00:10:57,040 we've had over the last few years. We have learned how to treat the water 132 00:10:54,959 --> 00:11:02,560 better because of those and have really not had those sorts of issues lately. Um 133 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:06,800 manganesees we did a different set of a set set of chemicals but the algae that 134 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:09,760 we had in the winter was unusual for a number of reasons. You don't normally 135 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:14,959 get algae blooms in in December or January and we did and it was a 136 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:18,640 particularly viral v viralent one and we had to learn how to treat that and one 137 00:11:16,560 --> 00:11:23,200 of the things that happened there years and years ago the city treated use 138 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:27,360 activated carbon to treat water. It was it was one of the things they did for 139 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:32,480 taste and odor. Ozone is more is more is more modern is is more technologically 140 00:11:30,079 --> 00:11:36,079 advanced but it's not as good at getting algae taste and odor out of the water. 141 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:40,399 So we have gone back to using that. We got some money from the state to to get 142 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:43,760 new carbon feed equipment, but before we did that, the folks at the water and 143 00:11:41,839 --> 00:11:48,560 sewer plant basically built rebuilt the old system long enough for us to to to 144 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:52,240 be able to deal with that early. We really have not had a whole lot of those 145 00:11:50,560 --> 00:11:55,600 problems. And again, knock on wood because the lake is different every day. 146 00:11:54,560 --> 00:12:00,000 And and that's one of the things that that our water folks have to deal with 147 00:11:57,040 --> 00:12:04,959 is is that it's not the same lake year after year because the the quality of 148 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:08,880 what's coming in or weather conditions when hot like it is right now and all 149 00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:14,160 kinds of things. You go ahead and flip it. You occasionally will get a notice 150 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:18,880 in your water bill that says we have had some sort of safe drinking water act 151 00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:22,079 violation. The most common one of those is something called total 152 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:26,720 trihillomemethanes. And that's a long word to basically say it's a series of 153 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:32,480 chemicals that are formed when chlorine reacts 154 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:37,760 with organic material in the water while it's being treated. And you used to use 155 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:40,959 raw free chlorine to do do that and that was a much bigger problem. The 156 00:12:39,279 --> 00:12:45,200 chloromine system that we use now is supposed to make that go away. We have 157 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:51,040 had a couple of issues. The most recent one that we had we had an ammonia pump 158 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:55,200 fail relatively briefly. Had to get it replaced. Soon as we got it replaced, 159 00:12:52,880 --> 00:13:00,320 we're back in limits. But we had we we we get sample four times a year and they 160 00:12:57,839 --> 00:13:04,480 take an average. And as long as that average is still above the limit, which 161 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:08,800 by the way is 80 parts per billion, which will tell you how small an amount 162 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:13,360 EPA regulates, we occasionally get um something called 163 00:13:11,279 --> 00:13:19,120 turbidity, which means the water's got a little bit more cloudy material in it 164 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:23,760 than it should have. Um we we get that most commonly in the winter when 165 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:27,040 everybody's pipes are breaking all over town at their house and we're trying to 166 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:29,600 push water out of the plant. Sometimes they don't let it settle quite as long 167 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:34,160 because they're trying to keep water pressure up. We have tried to use 168 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:38,880 chlorine dioxide to help that to some extent. Um we also have to have the 169 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:43,600 water in contact with the disinfectant for a certain amount of time. 170 00:13:41,279 --> 00:13:49,680 Uh LDH has asked us to make that a longer time and we we are complying with 171 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:54,880 that. Okay. Go ahead Chris. You will sometimes hear us say we have a boil 172 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:59,760 water advisor. Um, this is commonly done when we have a water mane break of some 173 00:13:57,040 --> 00:14:04,560 sort that requires essentially the pipe to be exposed to outside influence. It's 174 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:09,920 not sealed for a period of time while you're while you're maintaining it. And 175 00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:14,320 if the water pressure goes down below 25 pounds per square inch, we are required 176 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:19,360 to issue or we do at least as a matter of practice issue a boil adopt. 177 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:24,639 What normally happens there is a day or so later, folks at the water plant do 178 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:29,440 the testing, water's clean, no problem. We we lift the advisory. 179 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:35,279 It is possible for you to get a boil order. We don't ever want to do that and 180 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:39,519 haven't had one in recent memory. But if we are absolutely sure that the water is 181 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:42,800 contaminated and we do not want you to drink it, that's what a boiler is. 182 00:14:41,519 --> 00:14:46,800 That's a whole different thing that would happen. It happens a lot of times 183 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:51,199 when you when you have a treatment plant that gets flooded in a huge hurricane or 184 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:56,160 something like that and you can't guarantee what's in there. You have no 185 00:14:52,959 --> 00:15:00,639 idea. So, until you're absolutely sure, you're you're telling folks to boil. We 186 00:14:59,279 --> 00:15:05,279 don't normally do that. When you get a boil advisory, you can decide if you 187 00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:09,360 want to boil the water, but an advisory does not usually mean the water is 188 00:15:06,959 --> 00:15:13,279 unsafe. It just means we haven't tested it since we did the repair. and and as 189 00:15:11,839 --> 00:15:18,399 soon as we do it usually comes right back to normal. Go ahead. State grading 190 00:15:15,839 --> 00:15:23,920 scale is a source of it. Let's be clear. Um we have gotten ratings. 191 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:29,760 The first thing you need to understand is that a state rating 192 00:15:26,959 --> 00:15:34,639 does not mean your water is bad necessarily. It is not a measure of 193 00:15:31,839 --> 00:15:38,160 water quality. It is a measure of a whole series of grading things that the 194 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:41,279 state department of health uses. And some of them we agree with and some of 195 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:46,800 them we don't. We we had a meeting last time we talked 196 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:52,959 about this. The state has a has a you can get dinged for public complaints. 197 00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:56,480 And the scale is you get dinged 1.0 to 10 for every complaint you get. Well, 198 00:15:54,959 --> 00:16:00,560 that works really well if you got a little tiny system. If you you know, if 199 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:05,199 you're the village of whatever and you've got 200 customers, you get 10 200 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:10,480 complaints. That's a that's a big deal. We have 70,000 customers. you're trying 201 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:15,759 to get LDH and I think they're beginning to be more receptive to saying let's 202 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:22,880 rate it at least on you know the size you are so that 10 10 doesn't mean 10 in 203 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:27,759 a in a huge place like us um city of Boer has a rated water um that does not 204 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:32,720 mean their water tastes better than ours mean they have a newer system 205 00:16:30,079 --> 00:16:36,160 they have less old pipes and a lot of times we get dinged for some of that 206 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:41,120 we've also got dinged a little bit for stuff that we are well in the way 207 00:16:37,839 --> 00:16:46,000 fixing. Um, you've seen work going on at the big some of the big water tanks in 208 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:50,720 town and we can only work on those one at a time. We got an order to to to make 209 00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:55,199 to do some significant heavy maintenance on them and we have done all that now 210 00:16:53,279 --> 00:16:59,839 except for the one that's on I49 at St. Vincent and because it controls so much 211 00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:05,360 of the city's water pressure, we've got to do it in the winter. And so as soon 212 00:17:03,199 --> 00:17:10,319 as we quit having the kind of summer demand we have, we'll go back to doing 213 00:17:07,360 --> 00:17:15,120 that. We believe we will we will not be a failing grade too much longer. But we 214 00:17:12,959 --> 00:17:20,880 need you to understand that the grade is not really a measure necessarily of 215 00:17:19,120 --> 00:17:25,919 whether we are doing a good job giving you water that is safe to drink, safe to 216 00:17:23,679 --> 00:17:32,240 bathe in, safe to cook with, all those things. Go ahead. Go ahead. One more. Um 217 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:36,640 we're required to look at sustainability uh whether we have and the big question 218 00:17:34,559 --> 00:17:39,760 there do we have enough water supply to meet the needs that we're likely to have 219 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:45,280 now and in the future. The answer to that is yes. Our water plant was was 220 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:49,039 expanded when everybody thought street was going to have 50,000 more people 221 00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:54,400 than it does right now. So we have plenty of treatment capacity. We're not 222 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:58,640 in a situation where we're in danger of um just not being able to treat the 223 00:17:57,200 --> 00:18:02,799 amount of demand we have and that goes up every you know this time of year 224 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:06,720 we're we're pumping more water than we would be on a cold day in January but we 225 00:18:05,360 --> 00:18:11,440 still have enough capacity to deal with that. There are people who will ask you 226 00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:15,039 in the in the world of the data center does that does that affect this? The 227 00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:21,600 answer is one of the reasons that we were able to deal with the data center 228 00:18:17,679 --> 00:18:25,440 is that we have water to set. We're not in danger of you not having enough or 229 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:29,679 them not having enough. And the other part is does the city have the financial 230 00:18:27,039 --> 00:18:33,919 resources to operate and maintain the system. Y'all need to understand that 231 00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:37,679 that's always going to be a balancing. The elected officials on the city 232 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:41,280 council who set the water rates would like to keep the rates as low as they 233 00:18:39,039 --> 00:18:46,000 possibly can because it's everyone who pays it. um you have to balance that 234 00:18:43,919 --> 00:18:50,400 between the needs of the system. So far we have been able to do that. Uh but 235 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:55,520 that will always be an issue that we have to you know deal with sometimes. 236 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:59,760 Rates we have, you know, we we have a combined bill. You understand you get a 237 00:18:57,039 --> 00:19:05,760 bill for water and sewer service. Um the water part is actually the cheap part. 238 00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:12,320 Um you you can most people's water portion of their water bill is $30 or 239 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:17,200 less. Um and we actually series of kind of lifeline rates where the the smaller 240 00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:22,160 consumption rates are charged a little bit less per gallon than than the folks 241 00:19:19,120 --> 00:19:25,520 that use a lot of water. Um, our sewer rates are high and they're going to 242 00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:31,039 continue to be that way. We have to do a great deal of work to keep EPA happy 243 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:34,960 regarding a legal consent decree we have and that we're trying to get modified. 244 00:19:33,039 --> 00:19:39,840 But it's likely that that sewer rates will always be more than water rates no 245 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:45,120 matter what happens here. Um, we try, however, go ahead to try to 246 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:50,960 find other sources of money. Um, we try really hard to to to use sources that do 247 00:19:48,559 --> 00:19:56,240 not require being paid back as as expensively with water and sewer rates. 248 00:19:53,440 --> 00:20:00,559 In the 2024 bond issue that the mayor put together and the voters approved by 249 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:04,880 80%. We had, I think, about $80 million in that bond issue for water and sewer 250 00:20:03,039 --> 00:20:10,080 projects. Those are projects that don't have to be paid back with your water. 251 00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:12,559 A good deal of that work is water work. It's going to be some of [clears throat] 252 00:20:11,120 --> 00:20:16,720 it is already about to be under construction out of the Amos plant. We 253 00:20:14,799 --> 00:20:20,240 have four different projects out there. Um we've also got some sewer work and 254 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:26,400 we've got the elevated water tank in Southeast that way. We have gotten some 255 00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:30,000 some FEMA grants. Um you know the Cross Lake dam is important to us because it's 256 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:36,480 obviously holding Cross Lake in so we have water to treat. The dam is is the 257 00:20:33,120 --> 00:20:40,000 spillway gates are not exactly new. We're trying to get some work done there 258 00:20:38,159 --> 00:20:45,600 so it will be easier for us to regulate the level of um we have uh we've got 259 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:50,000 some money for generators because it's important for us to be able to to deal 260 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:55,039 with your water needs when there's no power. Um and we've got some generators 261 00:20:53,039 --> 00:20:57,919 that are in the process of being delivered and unfortunately they take 262 00:20:56,400 --> 00:21:01,520 forever to get here but we're we're working on. We have asked for some state 263 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:06,320 capital outlay money to try to do some work inside the state inside the game 264 00:21:03,360 --> 00:21:10,320 plan because the plant is old. Now most of the equipment that treats your water 265 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:14,480 is not it's been updated a number of times over the years but there are still 266 00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:18,480 things we can do there. We're hopeful that next next session we'll be able to 267 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:23,039 do a little better. There are also some grants and loans. There is a federal 268 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:27,120 program called that lets you borrow money at 0.95% 269 00:21:25,039 --> 00:21:31,200 pay it back over a long period of time. We are trying to get somewhere in the 270 00:21:29,360 --> 00:21:35,280 neighborhood of 50 to $60 million that way that will be used for water and 271 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:39,280 sewer. Uh the state has a has a revolving loan program for for drinking 272 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:44,880 water programs. That's another way we can get some money. Um and then when all 273 00:21:42,799 --> 00:21:50,799 else fails, we can sell bonds that are paid back by your by your revenues, but 274 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:57,520 we try to stretch what we can as well as we can otherwise. Okay, now for the fun 275 00:21:53,600 --> 00:22:03,280 part. Um we recogize over and over and over that whether or not we have 276 00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:08,159 regulatory issues with our water, there are there there are a large number of 277 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:14,320 people or at least some number of people who believe our water is nasty, doesn't 278 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:17,679 taste good, smells bad, whatever. And we are not here to try to tell them that 279 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:23,120 they are wrong. We are here to try to say we are selling water to you that 280 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:27,520 meets public it meets all the standards 281 00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:30,799 required to be safe. If you have a particularly sensitive nose or 282 00:22:28,799 --> 00:22:35,840 particularly sensitive pallet, you may have a different perception and we have 283 00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:39,120 we have you know there are people up here who have who would have different 284 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:43,360 perceptions depending on what on what there is. But what we have been able to 285 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:46,960 do is when we've had a compliance issue, we've been able to fix it relatively 286 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:53,039 easily or at least address it reasonably well. Um, we have learned how to deal 287 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:58,480 with algae better and we're always going to have some algae in a shallow lake 288 00:22:54,720 --> 00:23:04,320 like we have. Um, but we, you know, we are in the age of anyone can post on 289 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:07,200 social media that you are chasing and then there are a number of people who 290 00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:10,240 will like that, some people that won't, some people will defend us and some 291 00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:15,280 people won't. We're not really here to do that. But what we are here tonight to 292 00:23:12,159 --> 00:23:22,559 do is to give you an opportunity to taste three different water sources in 293 00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:28,960 this area. Um they're all surface drinking water. One of them is ours. Um 294 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:33,840 we would like you and and Kiana can help explain how this works, but we have 295 00:23:31,679 --> 00:23:37,679 three different samples back here. We have different color cups for each one 296 00:23:35,360 --> 00:23:42,799 of them and a rating scale for them. And what we would like you to do if you're 297 00:23:39,120 --> 00:23:46,799 interested is to set it. Let's let's set it up and come 298 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:50,080 on back and um we will let you have the opportunity to pour yourself three 299 00:23:48,159 --> 00:23:53,679 different and these came from water from household water tanks. They did not come 300 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:58,320 straight out of the plant. They didn't come from the dead end of the line. They 301 00:23:55,440 --> 00:24:02,559 came from somebody's house, frankly. Um we would like you to taste those and 302 00:23:59,919 --> 00:24:07,520 break them. We do not know what the answer you will give us is. We're taking 303 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:14,000 a certain amount of risk there, but we have done this test in in a controlled 304 00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:18,880 environment once and we came out reasonably well. I mean, again, not 305 00:24:17,120 --> 00:24:22,720 everybody is going to have the same opinion about which one of these they 306 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:30,080 like better. Can you explain what they're supposed to do? So, we have like 307 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:34,400 Mr. D said, we have three uh dispensers back here with water in them and from a 308 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:38,720 household from different water systems. All 309 00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:42,080 surface water all have similar uh means of treatment but slight differences 310 00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:47,120 based on again the source that they're actually treating. [snorts] And so with 311 00:24:44,159 --> 00:24:50,880 each sample that you take um of course we'll give you a slip to fill out and 312 00:24:49,120 --> 00:24:56,159 each sample you don't compare it to to to the other sample. You just compare it 313 00:24:53,679 --> 00:25:02,480 to how it tastes to you. Um give it a rating of one through four. One being 314 00:24:59,039 --> 00:25:07,360 the best it tastes the best and four being the worst. 315 00:25:05,039 --> 00:25:10,400 » And so, please feel free again, we have pins back here. You don't have to give 316 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:14,240 us your name. You can if there's anything particular that stands out 317 00:25:11,919 --> 00:25:18,320 about the uh sample, either for the good or for the detriment of that sample, 318 00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:23,679 please feel free to make that uh comment here to the side. It always helps um you 319 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:28,720 know, if it's if it's ours, it helps us to better understand what people are 320 00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:32,640 tasting. Um again, he taste of water is subjective. I do drink the water every 321 00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:35,919 day. I try if I'm here in town, out of town, I try to drink the tap water just 322 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:40,240 kind of get a taste for especially when I'm around town here in the city to see 323 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:45,120 what our citizens are and I live inside so I drink water. One of the things that 324 00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:51,200 » one of the things that we can tell you is that if you have un if you see a 325 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:56,080 specific change in your water at your house or at your business, we will be 326 00:25:53,840 --> 00:26:00,080 happy to come out and test that to see if there's anything unusual going on 327 00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:04,720 with your plumbing or there's something going on with the system adjacent to 328 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:08,480 your house. And we can we will be happy to look at that because, you know, we're 329 00:26:06,559 --> 00:26:11,440 not going to try to tell people who tell us they don't like the way the water 330 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:15,200 We're not going to tell them, "Well, you're draining." No, we're going to try 331 00:26:13,039 --> 00:26:18,159 to see if we can find whether there is a reason. And sometimes there is. 332 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:21,279 Sometimes it's your plumbing. Sometimes it's it's we've got a leak we don't know 333 00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:25,760 about down the way. I mean, there's all kinds of possibilities, but we would 334 00:26:23,679 --> 00:26:29,360 like you to to see what you think. And we'll give you some time. Uh if you have 335 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:35,919 any questions, Kiana, and her crew be back here to answer it, but please 336 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:41,840 please come forward. Shann, >> how does how does somebody go about 337 00:26:39,360 --> 00:26:46,799 requesting their household water to be tested through the Department of Water 338 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:50,640 and Sewage? Is there is there a number or an email to call if somebody thinks 339 00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:55,360 something might be tasting funny at their house? Yes, you can call the uh 340 00:26:53,279 --> 00:26:58,360 our water quality lab. That number is 3186737654 341 00:27:00,159 --> 00:27:03,559 or 318-6737655. 342 00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:12,200 The city also utilizes the system I believe call you can also call dispatch 343 00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:12,200 as well. That number is 318-6737600 344 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:18,960 and that line they collect information for just about anything you see a water 345 00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:22,960 leak. Um, if you suspect that your meter is running, you know, running too high 346 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:26,880 or or something is wrong or anything related to water, you can call that that 347 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:30,960 7600 number to report just about anything. I think they even take um 348 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:33,600 other city uh department complaints and pass those along as well. 349 00:27:33,039 --> 00:27:38,520 » Yeah. >> So, we we invite you to come 350 00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:46,000 » the city folks will not do that. Would you um also let them know that I have 351 00:27:45,039 --> 00:27:47,679 the same customer service representatives here if they have a 352 00:27:47,120 --> 00:27:50,799 billing question? >> If you have a billing question or if you 353 00:27:49,360 --> 00:27:55,200 know someone who does, we have someone here from customer service. Look it up 354 00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:59,000 » and they're right here. So if you need anything, they're right here. 355 00:27:59,120 --> 00:28:06,559 » Thank you for >> because I participated in the prior test 356 00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:13,640 and I may very well recognize one of the may recognize one more of the samples. 357 00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:13,640 So I am not participating but 358 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:23,159 I don't 359 00:28:23,919 --> 00:28:26,919 like 360 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:39,640 » everybody gets through. We're going to have an opportunity for public comment. 361 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:39,640 Let's 362 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:47,159 get you. 363 00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:45,240 Everybody 364 00:29:50,135 --> 00:29:52,155 [laughter] 365 00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:59,159 need a taste. 366 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:36,200 You should know 367 00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:49,520 Snapchat. 368 00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:16,960 whale. 369 00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:46,720 Tiana's still tallying, so this would this would be a good time. 370 00:31:44,799 --> 00:31:51,760 The normal format of a meeting like this is to ask for public comments. And so we 371 00:31:50,159 --> 00:31:57,919 would invite anyone who would like to speak about any subject related to the 372 00:31:55,600 --> 00:32:02,960 task force to come forward. We don't have to enforce time limit too 373 00:31:59,679 --> 00:32:06,679 dramatically tonight, but anybody like speak 374 00:32:09,039 --> 00:32:12,039 faster. 375 00:32:12,399 --> 00:32:19,039 » I think what you what you find when you do these is everybody has different 376 00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:24,640 preferences about what they do in their life. 377 00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:28,080 um the the the products of individual water systems are always going to be 378 00:32:26,559 --> 00:32:31,840 somewhat different depending on [snorts] what their source is, depending on how 379 00:32:29,919 --> 00:32:37,919 they treat it, depending what time of year it is. 380 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:42,480 Um so, you know, we we try to be sensitive about that 381 00:32:39,679 --> 00:32:48,960 because really we we really believe that that a lot of our issue is simply 382 00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:52,799 people almost trained to believe that stuff's 383 00:32:51,279 --> 00:32:56,960 nasty. And you know that's what you read. If 384 00:32:55,279 --> 00:33:01,519 you if you want to spend a little time on social media, you can certainly do 385 00:32:58,559 --> 00:33:09,257 that. What we try to tell folks often as we can go back to this, 386 00:33:05,919 --> 00:33:14,159 it is a miracle of modern science [snorts] that we are able to take that 387 00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:20,559 stuff and for less than half a cent per gallon, turn it into that stuff. And we 388 00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:24,000 do it every deliver to your house. And that doesn't mean you're not if you have 389 00:33:22,559 --> 00:33:27,360 complaints about it or concerns about it, we want you to tell us what they 390 00:33:25,279 --> 00:33:32,000 are. Uh we want to be able to come out and check check what's going on at your 391 00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:35,840 house because we want to provide as good a service as we can. And we are not 392 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:40,720 always perfect. We've had a couple of occasions in the last couple years where 393 00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:45,279 drinking it wasn't all that easy. And we have learned from those things. We have 394 00:33:42,799 --> 00:33:48,799 tried to to modify the treatment processes we have in order to make it 395 00:33:47,679 --> 00:33:52,640 less likely. And I'll give you an example. Brandon told me this week they 396 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:58,080 had had a little uptick in manganesees in the lake. You didn't know it because 397 00:33:55,679 --> 00:34:03,519 they have learned how to treat that to where you don't see that beautiful 398 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:09,200 yellow color we had for a little while, >> which is not uncommon, just to be clear, 399 00:34:05,679 --> 00:34:13,040 in summer months, all systems. um one in particular right now that they've 400 00:34:11,119 --> 00:34:17,040 experienced that we've just gotten better at treating it. Um and when we 401 00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:21,040 say uptick, they're still well below any threshold that would even be detectable 402 00:34:18,720 --> 00:34:25,440 to the naked eye. But it seems that we learned with that experience and our 403 00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:29,760 monitoring, we have increased that because of that process, which allows us 404 00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:33,440 better data that are trending to see the levels and how they move and flow from 405 00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:36,440 day to day, year to year, season to season. 406 00:34:39,679 --> 00:34:46,399 Almost there. >> I think I think Tom at our last I don't 407 00:34:44,079 --> 00:34:49,399 know if >> push 408 00:34:54,240 --> 00:35:02,000 it on. >> At the last meeting we talked a little 409 00:34:57,760 --> 00:35:07,359 bit about the LDH scale that that we are are getting an unfavorable grade on that 410 00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:15,200 is part of what the concern is and that LDH may be 411 00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:20,800 with reconsidering the scale that will maybe be a little more scientific and 412 00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:25,359 scientific and based on evidence less than opinion. 413 00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:29,680 » Can can you share with us where that conversation goes about? 414 00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:36,079 » Well, and I want to clarify a little bit. I don't think we necessar we don't 415 00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:40,000 agree with the criteria hall. Um the we have not agreed with other than the 416 00:35:37,359 --> 00:35:44,000 number of complaints. We kind of you get dinged over and over for stuff we're 417 00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:47,680 actually working on and fixing. Once we get it worked on and fixed, hopefully we 418 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:52,400 won't get dinged anymore. But, you know, we we'll own the grade we got. We think 419 00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:57,359 it ought to be iron. But mostly what we want to tell you is you can get an A 420 00:35:54,160 --> 00:36:01,920 grade system and your water tastes nasty. 421 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:09,680 That that is the way that works. Um so yes we are um we've had four years 422 00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:14,880 of the grade rule looking back that particular example of having water 423 00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:19,280 systems that have in particular I'm going to say color issues. We don't have 424 00:36:16,720 --> 00:36:24,400 a lot of systems where water has a lot of taste issues other than surface water 425 00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:29,280 systems that obviously are prone to having algae issues and things at 426 00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:35,200 different times of the year. So we are focusing on looking at the the grading 427 00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:41,280 scale which right now is heavily weighted towards federal violations, 428 00:36:37,920 --> 00:36:46,640 state violations, infrastructure that is significantly deficient. Um all of the 429 00:36:44,079 --> 00:36:52,720 measures that we have I would say besides the complaint law are, you know, 430 00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:56,560 based on actual deficiencies of the system. It's not, you know, our 431 00:36:54,720 --> 00:37:00,640 perception that something is bad. It's just we have so many things that are 432 00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:04,800 significantly deficient and we count points against them. There are 433 00:37:01,839 --> 00:37:09,680 violations that we count points against. Um so we are looking at all of those 434 00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:16,320 components and so that you know more of the water quality weighs a little higher 435 00:37:13,119 --> 00:37:21,280 um on that grade. And so that's a part of its rule making. And so we will be 436 00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:26,000 proposing we will all of that goes through public comment um where we 437 00:37:24,079 --> 00:37:30,240 really really encourage water systems will be encouraged to comment to give 438 00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:35,359 their thoughts some ideas on how we can make this better. Um but you know we we 439 00:37:34,079 --> 00:37:40,079 started with something that the legislature asked us to do and I think 440 00:37:37,599 --> 00:37:44,079 that it's it's served its purpose. It's brought attention to our water systems 441 00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:49,119 where frankly I don't think enough attention 442 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:54,560 has been previously put. Um people just expect it to come out of their faucets 443 00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:59,599 every day and it's going to be fine. And so I I think it's been a good thing and 444 00:37:56,480 --> 00:38:04,960 we're looking at tweaking that. We have results 445 00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:10,079 and this points out I think as well as anything else how much perception is 446 00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:16,640 about water. All three of them had somebody say they 447 00:38:13,040 --> 00:38:22,960 were the best one and two of the three excuse me and one of the 448 00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:28,800 sample A got the worst score. It is from a water system near Monro but it had two 449 00:38:26,240 --> 00:38:33,599 people who thought it was wonderful and People thought it was absolutely awful 450 00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:38,000 and that is what perception means. We are second. We have a very stable score. 451 00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:44,880 We have a number we have two number ones, no number fours um and lots of 452 00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:53,200 twos and threes. The other system um the item C is the one that was rated best 453 00:38:48,079 --> 00:38:58,400 that the city of Budget um it got also a fairly stable set of scores. Um, that's 454 00:38:56,560 --> 00:39:03,440 actually fairly consistent with what you would see. I think if if you had a 455 00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:09,599 random 500 people, you would see some people love it no 456 00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:14,320 matter what system. Some people hate it no matter what system it is. Um, and a 457 00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:18,640 lot of people are kind of, okay, I drink it, but it's probably not as good as 458 00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:23,520 period. But, you know, that's the way that works. But, but that's what that's 459 00:39:20,960 --> 00:39:27,920 what we learn. Um, I mean, look, we like to be number one all the time, but when 460 00:39:25,839 --> 00:39:31,599 you're dealing with perception, sometimes you get absolutely wonderful 461 00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:35,440 scores and sometimes you just get acceptable 462 00:39:33,119 --> 00:39:40,640 and although we'll try for better than than, you know, just acceptable every 463 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:44,400 day. Some days we, you know, some days we run into a perception that is 464 00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:48,560 different and that's just what we get. But I think that the most interesting 465 00:39:45,839 --> 00:39:56,800 thing is that we had looks like we had 10 people 466 00:39:52,240 --> 00:40:01,760 do do these and four of them thought the Boer water was better. Three of them 467 00:39:58,800 --> 00:40:06,960 thought that nasty stuff in Northb is better 468 00:40:02,720 --> 00:40:10,320 » and two thought that um you know um that's kind of the way that that 469 00:40:08,960 --> 00:40:15,359 works in the real world. >> But the interesting thing is we did the 470 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:19,680 same test a few weeks ago and was number one in that test thing and so and Boer 471 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:24,079 was number two. So it's again like you said it's about the pallet and what 472 00:40:21,520 --> 00:40:29,520 you're especially where you live and where you 473 00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:36,560 » and and I mean we had I was sitting next to someone at the when we did it in 474 00:40:32,240 --> 00:40:40,800 house and I thought the boer water was okay when I found out which one it was 475 00:40:38,720 --> 00:40:45,920 you know I've grown up thinking you know boer water nasty but it kind of kind of 476 00:40:42,720 --> 00:40:50,720 was and what what I saw was this is this is okay the person sitting next to me 477 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:55,359 absolutely absolutely hated the Bojer and you know that's just that is what 478 00:40:53,040 --> 00:40:58,640 this is about some you know sometime some people like Coke 479 00:40:57,280 --> 00:41:02,880 and some people like Pepsi both of them are safe to drink 480 00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:09,160 » yeah this is an example I like the water that's my grandparents 481 00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:09,160 » I drink it 482 00:41:09,200 --> 00:41:15,520 » did you recognize it as you were drinking it or did you just 483 00:41:11,839 --> 00:41:19,920 » not that's what I like >> I usually think that's That's where we 484 00:41:18,079 --> 00:41:24,960 are. That's what we're trying to trying to get across to people is that 485 00:41:21,839 --> 00:41:30,000 everybody's power is different. And the the thing we are trying to do in in our 486 00:41:27,839 --> 00:41:35,040 work every day is not to convince you that your opinion is correct or 487 00:41:32,640 --> 00:41:41,280 incorrect. We are trying to put together water every day to your house for a 488 00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:45,760 reasonable price that is safe to drink, safe to bathe in, safe to cook, safe to 489 00:41:44,240 --> 00:41:52,000 use for whatever purposes you want to use it for. And we do that. Um, and we 490 00:41:49,760 --> 00:41:57,040 have a we have a very good team of people who work on that plant. Some of 491 00:41:54,319 --> 00:42:01,680 y'all remember back in the spring. We [clears throat] had a major water 492 00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:06,720 right right inside the water. And we were seriously afraid we were going to 493 00:42:03,839 --> 00:42:11,359 be out of water for a week in part or have almost no pressure for a week. 494 00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:16,720 Brandon and Kiana and the folks that work at the wand did an absolute 495 00:42:13,599 --> 00:42:22,400 miraculous job tweaking the system making it where we were basically low 496 00:42:19,119 --> 00:42:28,319 pressure for mostly a day in some places a little less than and that expertise is 497 00:42:25,520 --> 00:42:33,680 extremely valuable we prefer those maintenance but we are trying to give 498 00:42:31,040 --> 00:42:40,000 you a system that is dependable almost all the time that's our job 499 00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:44,960 anybody has any comments. We're almost ready to go. I think 500 00:42:42,480 --> 00:42:50,160 » I got I got another question. It's it's related to infrastructure. As as 501 00:42:48,160 --> 00:42:54,319 feathers said, much of the grade is related to infrastructure and their 502 00:42:52,240 --> 00:42:59,680 grant opportunities to build out the infrastructure. We learned last time at 503 00:42:56,640 --> 00:43:04,800 our meeting that is one of the older municipalities in Louisiana. 504 00:43:03,040 --> 00:43:11,200 New Orleans, of course, is the oldest, probably Baton Rouge. I figure we're 505 00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:16,800 behind those two as as a municipality go. So, our infrastructure is aged, we 506 00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:23,280 talked about last time, but there are grant monies and maybe legislative 507 00:43:19,920 --> 00:43:28,960 interests in water quality now that the city can perhaps go after. And if the 508 00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:34,319 idea is to replace lead and other galvanized metals, do we 509 00:43:32,079 --> 00:43:39,200 know how far along we are at this point and how far we have to go? I think the 510 00:43:36,560 --> 00:43:44,160 short the short version of that is that the feds are still trying to figure out 511 00:43:40,800 --> 00:43:47,359 exactly what they want us to do. And given the current regulatory climate in 512 00:43:46,240 --> 00:43:50,960 Washington, that's going to be a little uncertain for a while. I think at some 513 00:43:49,599 --> 00:43:56,000 point we're going to end up being asked to remove any lead service lines that 514 00:43:53,359 --> 00:44:00,319 are between the water man and your water meter. We are not likely to be asked to 515 00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:03,760 take care of the ones between your house and the water, but we'll see how that 516 00:44:02,480 --> 00:44:07,599 goes. And there will be some money for that. There'll never be enough When the 517 00:44:05,839 --> 00:44:11,680 feds do a mandate, it very seldom has enough money to to do everything. But 518 00:44:09,520 --> 00:44:15,440 there will be some money there. We are trying though to get every grant we can 519 00:44:13,599 --> 00:44:20,720 get simply because every dollar we can spend 520 00:44:17,440 --> 00:44:24,400 on construction from somebody else keeps shooting that pay 521 00:44:22,960 --> 00:44:28,720 or in the case of one of the loan programs, you know, we borrow money 5%. 522 00:44:27,599 --> 00:44:35,359 They're willing to give it to us at 0.95, which means it doesn't cost much. 523 00:44:32,720 --> 00:44:39,119 » To to your point though, the lead service what Tom's talking 524 00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:45,280 about from you know our main to your meter which is ours. If we have a break 525 00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:48,720 or we uncover that, we go ahead then and replace that. We don't just cover it 526 00:44:47,200 --> 00:44:52,400 back up and put it back in the ground. If we come across that in the field or 527 00:44:50,560 --> 00:44:55,680 when we're doing work, we we remove that, notify the homeowner, and we move 528 00:44:54,480 --> 00:45:01,440 forward. >> Yeah. So, it's incremental. So, we we 529 00:44:57,920 --> 00:45:04,560 know how much we've done and how much we have to go. Is there any kind of 530 00:45:03,119 --> 00:45:08,960 percentage on what we know we've replaced when we come 531 00:45:06,560 --> 00:45:12,960 upon it versus what's still out there. >> There's some some there's some figures 532 00:45:10,960 --> 00:45:17,440 out there. I don't have them. Um our team along with uh the government came 533 00:45:15,200 --> 00:45:23,200 in and did a a program and and they kind of studied some areas. We do have a 534 00:45:20,240 --> 00:45:26,800 older book that shows where historically and it's mainly older areas, right? 535 00:45:25,520 --> 00:45:31,280 Because you know that's been banned for many years. Um, so it's so we do have a 536 00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:36,240 a round figure and then they even did some more research to kind of itemize 537 00:45:33,359 --> 00:45:40,400 those and we also sent out uh surveys asking people questions to get it back 538 00:45:38,240 --> 00:45:43,359 to us that would help us even do that. So we do have some of that data. I just 539 00:45:42,160 --> 00:45:48,240 don't know it right off the top of my head. 540 00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:52,400 » Anybody can explain the point of the taste test 541 00:45:50,640 --> 00:45:59,839 exercise in light of the mission of the task force. 542 00:45:54,800 --> 00:46:04,560 I think it's important for us to to to deal with both sets of issues. We have 543 00:46:02,960 --> 00:46:11,119 regulatory compliance issues now again, but we also 544 00:46:08,319 --> 00:46:16,319 again we're asking people to drink the stuff every day and people have 545 00:46:13,359 --> 00:46:21,520 different perceptions of what taste is. Obviously, our goal generally is for you 546 00:46:19,920 --> 00:46:27,440 to drink our water without you thinking about it. 547 00:46:24,319 --> 00:46:30,480 It needs to be as dependable as turning on light switch. If you have to think 548 00:46:29,200 --> 00:46:34,560 about whether the power is going to be on, that's a bigger problem. And it's 549 00:46:32,560 --> 00:46:40,480 the same with our water. We want we're we're trying to do these because we 550 00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:45,920 think part of the point of of where we are in terms of community is not just 551 00:46:43,599 --> 00:46:51,599 that we have a few regulatory issues, but that we have a public which has very 552 00:46:50,319 --> 00:46:57,359 different opinions about what what tastes good. 553 00:46:54,319 --> 00:47:00,400 Nobody wants the water to be man. Everybody's real clear about that. I 554 00:46:58,800 --> 00:47:05,359 mean, there's not going to be a soul that thought that was fun. Um, and when 555 00:47:03,680 --> 00:47:09,119 it, you know, when it tastes funky like it did when we had the algae for a 556 00:47:06,960 --> 00:47:13,359 while, nobody wants that either. But when it gets down to the sort of 557 00:47:10,800 --> 00:47:16,319 acceptable range where your water tastes okay and your water tastes okay, and I 558 00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:22,240 have a preference because I grew up in Boer, you know, stuff like that, we 559 00:47:18,160 --> 00:47:27,520 simply want to be good. We want to be where you don't think about whether it's 560 00:47:25,200 --> 00:47:32,480 going to taste bad when it comes out and we don't want you to worry about whether 561 00:47:29,200 --> 00:47:37,839 it's going to come out. Those are we got to be and we've got to be acceptable. So 562 00:47:35,760 --> 00:47:41,200 that's it's a fun exercise is really what it's what it's there for. We don't 563 00:47:39,920 --> 00:47:48,480 necessarily again we don't know what we're going to get. Um when when we do 564 00:47:44,079 --> 00:47:54,000 these um I know that there are water waterworks industry conventions where 565 00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:59,040 they do these things all the time and sometimes some of the bigger cities win 566 00:47:56,400 --> 00:48:04,720 and sometimes they get embarrassed and it all depends on who your tasters are. 567 00:48:01,760 --> 00:48:09,359 That's that's Anybody have anything else committee? We 568 00:48:07,119 --> 00:48:15,119 are likely to do this again September 10th, most likely at at Southern Hills 569 00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:19,599 Park. Um we are required by the resolution created this task force to 570 00:48:17,359 --> 00:48:24,240 meet once a month and that would be our likely September date. Um we have any 571 00:48:22,160 --> 00:48:28,440 other business, any other comments? If not, we return and thank you for