The Colusa City Council last week awarded a contract to Aqua Sierra Controls to update three city wells and one at Colusa Industrial Properties with modern “communication” technology.
Currently, the system communicates via telephone lines to outdated and unreliable communication technology that is more than 30-years-old, said City Manager Jesse Cain.
“Over the last few months, we have been experiencing some major issues with communications and have had the phone company out there trying to help us figure out what is going on.”
The wells’ controller, located at the water towers, is so outdated that parts are no longer manufactured, Cain said, forcing staff to scour Ebay when something breaks.
City Engineer David Swartz said without new and updated equipment, and given the age of the existing equipment, catastrophic failure should be a real consideration.
Aqua Sierra Controls will install new programmable logic controllers at each well site and other needed upgrades to improve the electronics and operations, which will communicate to a new dual-use tower, located at the wastewater treatment plant, where city staff have the appropriate facilities to house the equipment.
The upgrade only deals with the wells’ electronics, which measures water levels and turn the wells on and off. It does not include improvements to wells that are to be funded through a state grant, Cain said.
The $352,109.54 for the project will come from a combination of Wastewater Capital Improvement Funds and the Water Impact Fee Fund.
The contractor estimated the upgrade to be $93,466 for the base station site at the wastewater treatment plant, and $61,245 each for City Wells No. 4, 5, 6. The cost for CIP Well No 2 will be $74,905 because it has interconnected controls with CIP’s Well No. 1.
When asked about paying for an upgrade to a private well, the city attorney said one could analyze it to be a “gift of public funds,” but said there is a reasonable public benefit.
Cain said the city, which plans to eventually purchase the well from CIP, has a state-approved contract to purchase water from Colusa Industrial Properties when the city is in need, largely due to the ongoing problem Colusa has with Well No. 6.
Cain said there will be a need for CIP wells to have the same communication system if the city needs water later this year, which is likely. Cain said he also hopes to negotiate the upgrade into the price of either the water or the purchase of the well.
Colusa has not included the three city wells that will eventually be abandoned after the city drills a new well on Fifth Street and rehabilitates the other wells.
“We only included the wells we are going to keep,” Cain said.
The City Council voted 5-0 to expend the funds to upgrade the base station site and the wells’ communication system. ■