The Donnelly City Council on Monday night adopting an updated master waterplan designed to save the city money.
The vote was 4-1 with council member Kimberly Zanier dissenting.
Zanier preferred the council locate a new well and backup pump facility proposed in the water plan at the proposed Coach Crossing subdivision, where developers have promised a lot.
Coach Crossing is on 68 acres awaiting annexation into the city along West Roseberry Road.
Zanier urged the new well proposed in the updated plan be capable of pumping water at 800 gallons per minute instead of the smaller500 gpm recommended by engineers.
The lower volume well was preferred for the fire flow redundancy demanded by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.
But Zanier believed it was smarter for the city to pursue the higher volume well up front, saving money in the long run and having more water available for fire suppression.
The water plan's original three options for upgrading the city's water supply did not have the capacity under new DEQ requirements for an adequate flow to fight fires.
The city existing system includes two wells and a 129,000gallon storage tank with booster pumps.
With Coach Crossing and the already annexed West Mountain Resort Village, the city is expected to grow to 750 water hookups.
New rules require a rate up to 2,000 gpm for a two-hour duration for fighting house fires, and higher flow is needed for bigger structures. DEQ is pushing storage tanks and more wells with
lower flows, city contract engineer Elwin Butler said. Constructing an alternative adopted previously by the city would have cost an estimated $1.13 million to buy a lot for a well site. and to drill the well and build a pump house as well as purchase and install a pump, motor, pipes, controls and other items as well as upgrade the existing booster pump and distribution system.
To provide redundancy, the cost climbed to $1.38 million for enlarging the existing well and improving associated equipment and parts on top of the base work.
Butler found a way to meet requirements that would cost about $1,126,000. Building a new well and booster pump facility at the city-owned Donnelly Depot Center along with a new 300,000-gallon tank and backup generator, the city could spend about $252,000 less and achieve the goals for state-mandated upgrades.
The proposal said if development pays $1,065,000, the city's actual expenditure would come down to $61,000.
Plan Cost Summary
Here are the costs of the updated master water plan:
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No expense for a well site; it would be at the city-owned Donnelly Depot Center.
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$149,000 for constructing a new well.
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$67,000 for pump, motor and pipes for the new well.
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$31,000 for electrical and well head improvements for the city's existing well.
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$818,000 for central pump house, booster pumps and 300,000gallon water tank.
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$12,000 for existing booster pump station upgrades.
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$49,000 for water distribution system improvements.
