Monthly Archives: July 2012

Fall Picnic and Water Usage

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First of all, mark your calendars for September 15th from 3-7pm.  Our annual picnic will be held at Vogt Brothers Park.  More details will be available soon.

Secondly – Steve posted this to our facebook group about water conservation:

Follow up water conservation memo from…

Debra K. Aylsworth, P.E.
Director of Public Works

The biggest water conservation impact resulted from the media push on July 5th where we did see positive results from the request for voluntary water conservation. Since that date water consumption has continued to rise. I believe another external push to request continued voluntary water conservation would be beneficial. If we do not see a significant reduction with this follow up, I will be requesting voluntary conservation be made mandatory.

St. Charles is fortunate to have water system redundancy (Elm Point Water Treatment Plant and Heritage Pump Station) that allows the City to provide a consistent supply of water by either increasing production at Elm Point or increasing pumping from Heritage. However, even that redundancy can be tested during periods of high temperatures and abnormally dry conditions.

If the water system were to incur a failure from being ‘overworked’ (i.e. mechanical pump failure or power outage at Heritage Pump Station or any of the City’s wells; excessive drawdown of groundwater levels impacting well production) the potential exists for large areas of the City to be impacted to the extent there would be little to no water. NO ONE wants that and it would be very hard and take a long period of time for the system to recover from such.

The facts are with this heat and no rain, more people are watering and they are watering more than normal. The lack of rain also increases the time required for groundwater levels to recharge or recover to normal depths after extended periods of pumping form the City’s wells. For those irrigating — individuals and homeowner’s associations — if they reduced the time and amount they irrigate by at least 30%, we estimate the water system would experience something much closer to the City’s normal peak usage of 12 – 13MGD vs. the peak 14.5 – 15 MGD we are presently seeing. A reduction in irrigation or watering to 50% would provide added protection to the City’s water system by:

· Reducing stress on pumps and mechanical components in the water system.
· Allow more time for groundwater level to recharge to normal depths.
· Increase available time to pump and fill the City’s elevated and ground storage tanks.

Water Division staff are closely monitoring the City’s well operations vs. groundwater levels. As the situation dictates he has been adjusting pumping rates to minimize groundwater drawdown effects on well performance.

Additional data that is compelling – in June 2012 we averaged 11.5 MGD. In June 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 we averaged 8.8, 9.2, 8.7, 8.6 MGD, respectively. So we pumped an average of 2.7 MGD more in June of 2012 than the previous 4 years……that is massive. July 2012 to date has averaged 13.4 MGD with 214.4 million gallons pumped in the first 16 days. The average for July 2011 was 10.5 MGD.

I’ll certainly keep you posted moving forward, as Wednesday and Thursday are looking like scorching hot days.

Fireworks & Heat Wave

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St. Charles Gears Up for the July 4th Holiday by Reviewing Related Safety Measures

Staff monitoring plans for fireworks, water conservation and area cooling centers.

WHO:   Mayor Faith and the St. Charles leadership team are reviewing plans to ensure the safety and security of residents before, during and after the July 4th holiday.  Currently on tap are issues related to fireworks, water conservation and cooling centers.

WHAT:   The city’s current position on all three areas of emphasis are as follows:

  • FIREWORKS – the city intends to retain its fireworks schedule for Riverfest (Wed., July 4 @ 9:20p) given the professional show is initiated from a barge on the Missouri River.  Fire Chief Ernie Rhodes will continue to monitor the weather forecast going into next week, to determine whether any type of fireworks ban needs to be implemented in neighborhoods citywide.  Given we are in an “abnormally dry” condition and not under a Red Flag warning, at this time city residents may shoot off fireworks on Tuesday, July 3 and Wednesday July 4.  Updates will be provided if there’s any change to this plan.

    NOTE:  According to City Ordinance (Section 215.1090) the city of St. Charles currently allows fireworks to be discharged within the municipal limits only on July 3 and 4 and only from 12:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.

  • WATER CONSERVATION – Public Works staff continue to monitor and anticipate water usage issues that can arise from excessive heat and abnormally dry conditions.  The City’s water system is functioning properly and water storage tanks levels are acceptable at this time.

    There are situations that could occur which alters the ability to provide adequate water supply for fire protection.  A major water main break, significant fire, or power outage, or a combination of the prior in addition to higher than normal consumption could potentially result in the need to issue a request for voluntary water conservation.  If positive results would not be achieved from voluntary conservation, a mandatory conservation request would be issued.

    Steps the City has taken, include:
    1)      restricting usage from contractors working for the City on improvement projects
    2)      restricting issuance of fire hydrant permits for new construction
    3)      restricting fire hydrant flow testing
    4)      restricting use of water hauling unit at 3 p.m. this afternoon
    5)      requesting city-operated facilities to limit water usage

    In the case of a power outage, the City’s water facilities, with exception of one, have emergency generators in place.  The fuel reservoirs for the generators are being topped off today and the vendor is on standby for fueling if necessary.  We have arrangements in place for a temporary emergency generator, if the need arises for the one facility.

  • COOLING CENTERS – there are currently two cooling sites available for area residents in St. Charles, including:

    Mid East Area Agency on Aging – St. Charles Senior Center, 1455 Fairgrounds (63301) – 636-949-0658

    Salvation Army – St. Charles Emergency Social Services, 2140 North 4th St. (63301) – 636-946-7966

    Here’s a link to a more complete listing of cooling sites in the area for your easy reference.

WHERE & WHEN:     St. Charles, MO – staff will monitor heat-related needs and conditions on an ongoing basis. Tracking will continue thru the weekend and the July 4th holiday as necessary.

ALSO:   For more information, contact Michael Spurgeon at 314-808-0917, Ernie Rhodes at 636-949-3250 or Carol Felzien at 636-578-6933.