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WORLAND – James Gores and Associates held a scoping meeting for South Worland Water Users and concerned community members Tuesday evening at the Worland Community Center Complex to discuss the South Worland Water master plan level one study and district formation.

South Worland Water Users Corp. secretary Sharon Smith stated at the beginning of the meeting that the water system, which originated in 1972, has been having more and more maintenance problems with bigger leaks and more expensive fixes that required more money than the corporation would be able to handle. She specifically cited a leaked that formed underneath the Hanover Canal, which was found just as the water was coming in.

“It was a big problem, they couldn’t really fix it they had to just block it off at that point and then run a line, or open a valve at the airport, which is our emergency connection and feed water to the people that lived on Ta Bi Drive. Since a year ago April in 2015 we’ve been feeding 21 houses, maybe 24 houses along Ta Bi with the emergency connection at the airport,” Smith said. “We recognized that this was beyond us, that we couldn’t really fix it ourselves without some help. We heard that Wyoming Water Development had money available for people like us, water systems, to upgrade their systems or fix problems. So we started to pursue getting a grant from Wyoming Water Development for a Level one study. So we went through the process and in the process we chose Gores engineering company out of Riverton to help us with the level one study. Our system as you know has been around since 1972 and we’ve done upgrades but it seems like it’s getting to be old and there are more and more problems,” she added.

Wyoming Water Development Commission agreed to pay for an $87,684 level one study of the water system after waiving the necessity of being a district. Wyoming Water Development Commission Kevin Boyce said, “The commission waived the requirement of being a district for phase one. They in effect have waived the requirement because we have a signed contract with a consultant. So the commission is on board with the level one study.”

Attendants at the meeting learned what the phase one study, which began Tuesday and will take about a year to complete, entailed from James Gore and Associates engineer Eric Carr who explained the phase step-by-step:

— They will take a look at the records that are on file, the record drawings that are available through engineer firms that have worked on the system. They will be looking at the financial data. They will review as much as the existing information that we can get our hands on.

— They will inventory and evaluate the system, find out what assets the South Worland Water Users Corporation have and what inventory on hand that they have, to suit the needs of the water users.

— They create a GIS (Geographic information System), which provides South Worland Water Users with not only a map but a data base of information that goes along with that map so that the users can pull up individual pipe lines and know exactly what size they are, how old they are, when they were installed, where they are located physically on earth, where the water valves are, check meters, everything.

— They will be creating a hydraulic model of the system –put all the parts and pieces that make up the system, model that in a computer model and be able to mathematically analyze the system. They can also mathematically calculate potential sources of leakage or where higher probability of leaks would occur. “That will help us minimize the time that we spend looking for leaks and maximize the dollars being spent to find those leaks,” Carr said.

— They are going to look at the water source. “Because you purchase water from a municipality this is going to be a fairly simple task. Their quality of water is dictated by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and they have to meet those standards,” he said.

— They will look at system operations. How are things inventoried, how are things dealt with, are they flushing meters, flushing hydrants, flushing lines? They will look at all of those aspects of the operation of the system to make sure that things are being done in the most judicious and expedient manner.

— They will look at population growth and water demand. “Your service area includes several undeveloped portions of south Worland. There is potential for growth or subdivision of those tracts of land. How will that impact your group? We will make projections based on those water demand estimates and project in 5, 10, 20, and 35 years, how will that look and how will that impact this group,” he said.

— They will prioritize the recommendations. They will evaluate all of that information including financial data, how are you being charged for water, how much are you buying from the city vs. how much you are selling, is there a revenue discrepancy? “When we look at all of those factors we will begin to provide recommendations for improvements to the system. So that you know that the most important factor to work on is item A, second most B. Along with those prioritization of recommendations will be cost estimates. We will provide an engineering cost analysis to find out how much each of these will cost and not only that we will apply inflation factors to those cost estimates, so that you know, obviously you are not going to be able to perform each improvement in the first year of operations. We want to be able to provide recommendations that are fiscally responsible and sustainable so that you can provide these improvements in a set number of years and look to project what those are going to cost when you get to the point to do that improvement,” Carr said.

— They will look at the water system financing, which goes along with the cost estimates. How are the users going to pay for the capital improvements that need to be made?

— They will provide a report, set up a Facebook page so that those who may or may not want to speak aloud or write a note will be able to follow the process of the project throughout its course. They will also be using print media and posting local notifications.

— At the end they will present their findings to the group and to the Wyoming Water Development Commission.

Forming a district

After the discussion on the level one phase the discussion turned to why a district needed to be formed with the whys and why nots spelled out by attorney Virgil Kinnaird. He began by explaining that while the South Worland Water Users Corp. has received a waiver from the Wyoming Water Development Commission for the phase one study, to go further on to phase two and three that they have to be a political entity. His recommendation was in all essence to join with the Washakie Rural Improvement Service District by becoming a local district within a district.

“When South Worland first contacted me, the idea was to form a separate water district or a separate improvement services. As time went on and after looking at it and considering it and looking at what was going on in the area, it became evident to the board of South Worland Water Users that the most successful thing to do was to seek joining the Washakie Rural Improvement Service District or enlarging the Washakie Rural Improvement Service District. All around (South Worland Water Users Corp) is Washakie Rural. There is a way for an improvement service district to set up what is called a local improvement district within a district. That’s where I’m headed, pointing and working and talking and discussing with Washakie Rural,” Kinnaird stated.

If Washakie Rural Improvement Service District agrees to enlarge, the South Worland Water Users Corp. would fund itself, adding no additional fees to current Washakie Rural water users. “A local improvement district within a district would fund itself, pay for its operations and maintenance with its own rates. Pay for any funding that’s required to build, rebuild, improve and upgrade that system,” Kinnaird explained.

Just to enlarge the Washakie Rural Improvement Service District involves a lot of red tape. “In order to do an enlargement, there has to be a petition presented to the county commissioners that is signed by 25 percent of the voters owning at least 25 percent of the assessed valuation within the proposed enlargement,” Kinnaird said. “If the county commissioners approve it they will adjourn and then they will hold an election, mailed out election to voters in both the existing district and in the area to be enlarged. There has to be a majority of the voters to approve that. If the majority approves that, then the county commissions will declare that the enlargement has been formed,” he added.

An attendee at the meeting asked, if South Worland decides that they want to be absorbed by Washakie Rural and the vote fails, where do you go from there?

To which Kinnaird stated, “At that point, Ray and Sharon (Smith) and Peggy (Truman) and the rest of their board better raise their rates and get busy. They could either form a district or stay the way that they are, raise the rates or go to the bank for a loan. Hopefully that doesn’t happen.”