Water woes on tap once more in Dunkirk (11/15/05)

DUNKIRK — Improving city water quality, making changes to the water plant and leaving the jurisdiction of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, all familiar topics, were discussed at yet another city council meeting here Monday night.

Teenager Alice Brumfield brought up the topic of water quality, as she explained that since she has started doing laundry for herself at her Dunkirk home, numerous problems have developed.

She then displayed a once-colorful T-shirt, ruined by rust stains. “I’d really like to see the water improve,” she told city council members while also holding up a clear glass bottle containing not-so-clear city water.

The Dunkirk teenager was accompanied to the meeting by her father, local attorney Carlton Brumfield, who let his daughter do all the talking.

Council members sympathized with Alice’s concerns, and Mayor Sam Hubbard provided a brief summary of the problems which need to be corrected to improve Dunkirk’s water.

Over the last several years, city officials have been studying the need for better filtration procedures at the water plant. The mayor said that city leaders now know what’s needed, and they are trying to get the financing in place to correct the situation.

Simply stated, “our filters at the water plant can’t handle the amount of iron in the water,” Hubbard said.

He continued that the water is safe to drink and monitored on a regular basis by a laboratory in Muncie. However, Hubbard said, “I agree with you (Alice). The way it looks, I wouldn’t want to drink it either.”

The mayor continued that the water plant’s ozone treatment system and filters are not doing the job which they were intended to do. Hubbard said ozone water treatment apparently works fine for surface water coming from lakes or streams, but it’s not designed to deal with hard water with a high iron content, being pumped through limestone rock formations, such as is the case in Dunkirk.

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Hubbard said the council is now considering abandoning the ozone treatment system in favor of a more conventional water plant operation, but cost estimates are as high as $800,000 to make the necessary changes. “We’re in the process right now of trying to determine how to get the financing to fix this problem,” Hubbard said. There probably won’t be any actual work started until next spring at the earliest, the mayor said.

Also at Monday night’s city council session, Hubbard said that he has developed a list of advantages in connection with a proposal by the city to leave the jurisdiction of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. A public hearing on that issue is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Dec. 12 in city hall, 131 S. Main St.

Two of the advantages, listed by Hubbard, include: “IURC charges related to rate increases and bond issues are eliminated, and “the process of going through the IURC to adjust rates and charges may add six to nine months to the time it takes. If the utility is having some financial problems which require the rate adjustment, usually the problems are made worse with the delay.”

Hubbard said in the last 20 years more than 300 municipalities have withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the IURC, including Bluffton, Yorktown, Gaston, Hartford City, Albany, Berne, Portland, Pennville and Farmland.

Also at Monday night’s meeting, council members:

•Accepted a low bid from Virgil Taylor Construction, Dunkirk, of $4,489 to put new roofing on the city park caretaker’s house.

•Heard a report from Tom Johnson, council member in charge of the city parks, that vandalism is still a problem concerning the park facilities. He pointed out that the $100 reward for information leading to the apprehension and conviction of anyone convicted of stealing letters from the park’s entranceway signs will now apply to any acts of vandalism in the city parks.

•Learned that the Farm Service Agency’s Jay County office, located in Portland, had donated 104 trees to the city. Those trees are in the process of being planted in the city park.

•Received an update on plans to display holiday lights in Dunkirk City Park, starting in late November. Also from 1 to 3 p.m. on Dec. 10 Santa Claus will be available to meet with children in the Dunkirk City Park shelter-house, Johnson said.[[In-content Ad]]