City Water Department - FAQs

Answer: 117 feet

Question: What is the water tower volume?

Answer: 500,000 gallons

Question: Is there other water storage?

Answer: Yes. There is a 2 million gallon above ground storage tank.

Question: What is the water source?

Answer: All water comes from deep ground water wells.

Question: What is the depth of the wells?

Answer: 400 to 800 feet.

Question: What is the standard operating pressure?

Answer: 50-80 pounds per square inch (psi).

Question: How many wells are currently in operation?

Answer: There are 19 wells in operation.

Question: How many wells are under development/construction?

Answer: There are currently 2 wells under development/construction.

Question: What is the current total pumping capacity?

Answer: 44.5 million gallons/day (30,902 gallons per minute.)

Question: What is the total length of water mains?

Answer: Approximately 240 miles.

Question: What is the total storage volume?

Answer: 2.5 million gallons.

Question: How many fire hydrants do we have?

Answer: There are currently 3500.

Question: What is the frequency of water quality tests?

Answer: Inorganic compounds, synthetic organic compounds and volatile organic contaminants are every 3 years. Bacteria samples are taken monthly. There are 30 monthly sampling locations based on population criteria set by DEQ .

Question: What is the fluoride content of the water?

Answer: Less than 1mg/L (1 milligram per liter is equivalent to 1 part per million parts). We do not add fluoride to our water; any fluoride detected occurs naturally.

Question: What is the iron content in the water?

Answer: The well with the highest iron content has 0.12mg/L. The well with the lowest iron content is less than 0.01 mg/L. The average is 0.03 mg/L.

Question: What variables may cause water discoloration?

Answer: Excessive Iron (Fe) and Manganese (Mn).Both of these elements in raw water generally occur in the dissolved state, the water is clear and the substances are not noticeable except for taste in high enough concentrations. Oxidation through either chemical addition or mixing with the atmosphere will result in a gradual color change. Without disinfection this may not occur until the water reaches the tap and is dispensed. The water can become unpalatable, stain laundry and stain porcelain fixtures. Tannic acids found in tea and coffee can darken the color to a point it looks like ink. If a disinfectant (chlorine oxidizes the elements) is added, or if either element is partially oxidized, the oxidized particles will precipitate out in the distribution. This creates the brown sediment that accumulates inside our distribution mains during the low flow periods of winter. Sudden flows by fire hydrant activity will dislodge this matter and brown water calls soon follow. The secondary MCL for iron is 0.3 mg/l. At concentrations above 0.5 mg/l, the taste is noticable and disagreeable to most people, and staining of fixtures is quite serious. Manganese creates brown spotting in laundry. A maximum of 0.05 mg/l is desirable. 5.0 mg/l creates undesirable taste.Source: American Water Works Association

Question: Does Meridian chlorinate the municipal water system?

Answer: Yes, chlorination occurs just prior to water entering the distribution system. The well water is bacteria free when it enters the municipal distribution system. Chlorine is added to ensure that it continues to remain bacteria free from the time it leaves the well sites until it is discharged from the consumers tap. The following technical summary explains how the addition of chlorine helps assure that the water remains bacteria free until it is discharged from the tap. Destruction of pathogens is directly related to contact time. There are two types of chlorine residual: combined residual and free residual. The first amount of chlorine (example 1mg/L) is reduced during oxidation of compounds like iron and manganese. If the dosage is higher (example 2.5 mg/L) the chlorine reacts with organic substances and the ammonia in the water forming chlororganics and chloramines. These are called combined residual. Because it is combined with other chemicals in the water, it has lost most of its disinfection capability. At this point the water may resemble the taste and odor of a swimming pool. As the dosage is increased further, the chloramines and some chlororganics are oxidized. This process reduces the combined chlorine residual changes from combined to free available. As dosage increases further, free chlorine becomes available to kill pathogens in the water. Free residual is 25 times more effective at disinfecting than combined chlorine and without the swimming pool odor. The desirable minimum residual at the customer tap is 0.2 mg/L. Source - American Water Works Association

Question: What have we done to improve Customer Service within the last few years?

Answer:

1) Expanded our office hours to remain open through the lunch hour.
2) Added a front office position to enhance customer service.
3) Purchased 20 new hydrant meters to provide more availability to contractors and the public. We expanded the number of designated water truck fill stations, located throughout the City, to 35.
4) Added three more incoming phone lines and direct extensions to employees' phones.
5) Hired three new Field Technicians to provide more extensive field work and quicker response to customer's requests. Reorganized the Well Technician and Water Quality Specialist into two separate positions, which improves customer service in providing more specialized work.
6) Merged new construction inspections for both water and sewer to the Engineering Dept. to better coordinate new construction projects with contractors and the public.
7) Leak letters are now sent out from the Water Dept. instead of the Billing Dept. so that the customer can be notified faster of a possible leak. After the customer receives the letter, they can call the Water Dept. and talk with the person who sent them the letter and with the person who discovered the possible leak to get more details and possible solutions.
8) We have extended our working hours during daylight saving time to provide some services at 7:00 am.
9) We have provided customer service training classes to Water Department personnel as well as other city departments.
10) Implemented a computer based tracking system to enhance our ability to track phone calls and insure that we follow up.
11) Networked all computer work stations to a central server, allowing quick retrieval of customer phone call notes and other helpful project tracking information