Here is a quick update on things, but the District met in May, there was 48 signups and the District agreed to proceed. The agreement was sent to the District's attorney for a quick review, and once back it would get signed. Around the 2nd or 3rd week of May one of our summer interns began looking at how this system would lay out.
Now some of you may be groaning to yourself, "Oh! They put the new kid on this project? What are they thinking!" Some of you may actually know our intern, his name is Adam Olson, or the son of the District Bookeeper, Teresa Olson. Adam grew up in Hiawatha and is working his fourth summer at Bartlett & West. Originally he went to a great college, Kansas State University, but decided to attend some other school between Topeka and Kansas City.
Starting on a tangent here, but when I first learned about the U.S. Civil War we were taught that the Union forces had more troops, more training, more funding, and were well suited to win the war. As the Union marched southward, they encountered land they didn't know. The Confederate forces on the other hand knew the lay of the land. They knew where the river crossings were, how deep the forest was, where the cliffs were, and all of the details that the Union forces were completely clueless. Tying this in to the subject of the post, Adam may not talk with a southern accent or eat grits and gravy, but he grew up around this area, traveled these roads, and knows where you can go and where you cannot.
The layout and sizing of the piping is in draft form. Some recent changes in the PVC pipe market have caused pipe prices to fluctuate so we are checking on PVC prices and also looking into HDPE pipe as an option for this expansion. Right now, some preliminary pricing has been developed, and we are working to figure out how that will break down to a "cost per user" number. The goal is to have a draft of the report available to the District by the last week of June. Once we are comfortable with the layout of the piping, project cost, and the projected cost per user we will post these to the site.
I have some draft posts that I may try to finalize in the upcoming weeks. These will be about the different funding agencies available and where it comes from on the national level. Another topic will be on the PVC versus HDPE pipe. Both pipes get the water to you, but there are differences in how it gets assembled.
Well, I hope this update is enough to let you know that things have not went idle and things will get hammered out in the coming weeks. Take care.
