CC MINUTES 05121987 - Laserfiche WebLink

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-2- *immediately connect the southern quadrant of the City to the St. Paul water system (very costly because the water cost the City twice as much as it charges its customers) . Last year the cost of water purchased from mid-June to September 1st was about $24,000; *go to an odd/even sprinkling ban from 3 : 00 P.M. to 11:00 P.M. each day which would give the City the necessary 16 hours Mr. Hamer has indicated would be needed to replenish its water reserves. The Public Works Director answered Council questions and provided the following technical specifics related to those options: -indicated that with only two wells in operation, the City' s pumping capacity had been cut down 30%; -said banning sprinkling on Saturday only wouldn' t work because the reserves have to be replenished on a daily basis; -told Councilmember Ranallo washing and other household uses were not major contributors to the water shortage; -agreed with Councilmember Enrooth the system would only work if all residents cooperated with the ban; • -reported the City wells are only producing 2, 300 gallons per minute now and on May 9, residents were using more than 2,950 gallons a min- ute, which doesn' t provide enough surplus to fight a big fire; -explained that a study had been done several years ago related to the possibility of permanently connecting the City' s water service to the St. Paul system by making the connection with that system, . which would involve digging under Hwy. 88 , at the same time they studied the current connection of the southern quadrant through existing pipe under 29th Avenue N.E. The latter was the only connection the EPA would pay for with Superfunds so the City would have had to foot the bill for any other connection. Mr. Hamer said the Public Works Department would follow the practice it had in previous years of not sprinkling the parks at all during periods of water shortages but would need to make an exception of the mini-park at the Highway 88/St. Anthony Boulevard city entrance which was in dire need of watering. The Public Works Director said one of the calls he had gotten in relation to the complaints from residents who had to use St. Paul water in prior years had come from a woman who said she had surveyed her block and all the residents had agreed that the City should connect the southern portion to St. Paul water right away; raise taxes to pay for bottled water for the affected homes; and "let the rest of us water our lawns • whenever we want" .