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Home About VVWUA Our Water Rights Our Responsibilities Our Domestic Water System Cross-Connection Control Our Irrigation System Sprinkler Specifications Finances and Budget News and Bulletins |
Fall 2014 NewsletterWelcome to Vista Vu Water Users Association's newsletter. Our purpose is to keep you informed about important activities and projects that your Board of Trustees is undertaking on your behalf. Domestic alarm system installedButch's Electric has installed a warning horn outside the Domestic pump-house that will sound an alarm if any of four emergencies arise:
A new control box on the NW wall has two red warning lights and one green normal pump operation light, plus an alarm silencing button. If you hear the horn blaring, please contact a Board member immediately. .Domestic Upgrade CompleteWith the alarm system installed, the last of our domestic capital improvements has been completed. Financing and engineering design for these improvements started in 2007, seven years ago. The successive Boards of Trustees over that time period spent thousands of hours securing loans, overseeing design and bidding, and dealing with the innumerable problems that arose before and after construction. Fish Screens Ready for InstallationAt press time the new fish screens had been assembled and the contractor was waiting for a boom truck to lift them on to the raft. There were some issues that arose over the minimum water depth for their proper operation. The contractor insisted that we move the raft into deeper water, beyond the reach of any boom truck in the Valley. It would have been prohibitively expensive to rent a larger boom truck from, say, Moses Lake or Wenatchee. The issue was resolved in a conference with Okanogan Conservation District staff overseeing the installation. The raft will not be moved. Thanks to Stu Skidmore for arranging the meeting. Irrigation Shut-down on Oct 17thThere will be a work party starting at 8:30 a.m. on Friday Oct 17th IF Okanogan Valley Concrete's boom truck is available. Their winch is broken and parts for the repair must come out of Canada. There may be further delays before the repair is completed. It's possible that the new fish screens will have to be installed and tested, then immediately disassembled before the raft is lifted out of the river. WeÕll keep you posted on developments. Record High Power Bills in 2014With two months' bills still ahead of us we have already reached the maximum dollar amount spent in previous years for the entire season! Two things are clear: First, if you are using either larger nozzles or more sprinkler heads than your water right allows, you need to change your watering behavior. Orifice plates are not fool-proof, and in some cases may need to be re-sized. New Bookkeeper Started This MonthAs noted in a recent e-mail to the membership, our bookkeeping is now being handled by an outside professional, Ann Derting. The first month's billing went out with barely a glitch. With that chore handed off, the Secretary/Treasurer's workload will become much more manageable. He will still be responsible for depositing checks, approving bills and assessing tiered charges for domestic water.
Click here for earlier Newsletters archive For
further information contact: Doug Marsh, President; Dean Harrison, Vice President;
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