Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Secondary Water and a Subdivision--The March 11, 2014 Clinton City Council Meeting



Does this bring back memories?
Last year lawns throughout Clinton City slowly lost their rich, green color and became various interesting patterns and shades of light green and crunchy yellow.  Due to dam construction and lack of snowfall in the mountains, our water was restricted to 1/2 an hour per station, two days a week.  What about this year?  Will we face similar restrictions this year?  Ivan Ray from the Davis/Weber Canal Company was on hand at the Clinton City Council meeting tonight to address this very issue. 

Right now, the reservoirs that feed our Secondary Water system don't have any more water in them than they did last year at this time.  While this apparent lack of water may seem discouraging, we are actually in a much better place than we were last year.  While we don't have a lot stored in the reservoir, Mother Nature has quite a bit stored in the mountains.  A very wet February put us over the top so that the snow pack is right now at 112% of average.  Soils are at 75% saturation right now as well which should amount to a much more generous runoff than the one we experienced last year.  The Water Board discussed the possibility of restrictions, and while they haven't reached a firm conclusion on the matter, they don't think that any restrictions will need to be as extreme as they were last year.  Perhaps residents will

be limited to watering on certain days, but that will likely be the only restriction we face.  They plan to start the water season on April 15 as usual, but may well end it early again on October 1.

To make our Secondary Water service even better, plans are in the works to add piping to the pump stations to help with water pressure woes, especially in the eastern parts of Clinton.  This improvement won't be ready for this year, but funds are ready for the project to be ready for the 2015 watering season.  Eventually the improvements will be made all the way to 4500 West.  If you do find yourself with pressure problems, you are free to contact the Davis/Weber Canal Company and they will check your system to determine if the pressure problems are due to problems with their system or yours.  If the problems are theirs, you may be relieved from any watering restrictions.

City Councilperson Karen Peterson expressed interest in Clinton City having a spot on the Secondary Water board since we are such a large customer and Mayor Adams encouraged the company to purchase any free "rental shares" of water an put them towards the secondary water if there are restrictions in place again this year.

The City Council discussed more than just secondary water.  Here are some highlights of the evening:

The Council finalized a subdivision of land for a new detention pond.  The City storm drain piping  system can be a lot smaller if detention ponds are placed throughout the city.  (There's a great example of one just North of Lowe's on 2000 W)  These recessed areas slow the flow of storm water into the storm drains so the system can handle more water, but just do it over a longer time.  The City is planning to build a detention area on 1300 W.  The land has been purchased and the subdivision was finalized.  Hopefully the planning of the area can make its way into the budget for next year.

Mayor Adams is concerned about the fate of the Wasatch Integrated Waste Plant.  The plant is in desperate need of expensive upgrades in order to remain functional.  This plant burns our garbage and produces steam which is sold to Hill Air Force Base for power generation.  Past contracts between Hill and Wasatch Integrated have only been for 3-5 years.  In order to justify these costly repairs and upgrades, however, a more stable 10-year contract is needed.  A 6-month gap contract has been put in place while negotiations for a longer contract continue.  The landfill has a life span of about 15-years with the burn plant, but only about 5 without it. 

Clinton is getting a Zaxby's restaurant!  It will be on the corner of 1800 N and 2000 W, just kitty corner from Walgreens.  Although this isn't the "sit down" restaurant we've all been hoping for, it looks like they will have some pretty tasty food for us.  Welcome to Clinton Zaxby's!Wings & Things

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