Hilltop water pressure subject of council session

By Lauren Radomski (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Monday, June 2, 2008

The City of Fergus Falls is proposing several financing options for a booster station south of town, though judging from reactions at a City Council work session Monday, residents in the Hilltop Drive neighborhood aren’t particularly pleased with any of them.

A booster station would help improve the neighborhood’s water pressure, which residents say has been low for 20-plus years. The city’s policy to this point has been to encourage individual booster pumps for homeowners unhappy with their property’s pressure.

Yet residents say help from the city is long overdue. At a council work session Monday, City Engineer Dan Edwards laid out several options as to how the city could finance the booster station, work on the 16-inch city-wide water main, and repairs resulting from disruptions to city streets.

The cost of creating a high pressure zone depends in part on how much of the Hilltop area would benefit. The creation of a zone in an area west of Cascade Street only would run approximately $705,000, Edwards said, while expanding the area east of Cascade would cost an estimated $775,000.

Financing options also vary in contributions from the city and assessments from residents. For example, for a $775,000 project, one option is for a city contribution of $360,000 and $3,450 from each of roughly 120 houses. In another scenario, the city would defer the cost of some of the street work and spread the assessments over more property owners, contributing $535,000 and asking $2,000 per household from 170 homes.

Yet talk of assessments did little to ease residents’ concerns.

“I still feel if you pay your taxes and your water bill you should have adequate water pressure,” said Larry Greenquist, a resident along East St. Charles Avenue who’s spoken on the topic at previous council and committee meetings. “Aren’t we entitled, as residents of this city...to adequate water pressure?”

Carolyn Ellingson, a resident along South Mill Street, asked the council to consider the Hilltop tax dollars funding city, county and school district projects.

“We might be little but we’ve got some decent homes,” she said.

Low water pressure south of town is the result of the city’s hilly topography, Edwards said. Residents in the lowest parts of Fergus Falls may have pressure reaching 90 pounds per square inch, while 20 to 25 pounds per square inch is common in the highest points of the Hilltop area. Even within the Hilltop neighborhood, there’s 10 to 12 pounds of pressure difference between the highest and lowest points, Edwards said.

The installation of a booster station would put Hilltop in the pressure range of 45 to 50 pounds per square inch.

If the city decided not to invest in a booster station, it could help cover the cost of individual booster pumps. These pumps have been estimated at $2,000 each and last for 10 to 15 years, Edwards said. However, future development on property south and west of the Hilltop neighborhood would not benefit from help with individual booster pumps now; a booster station would be a better long-term solution.

The council did not make any decisions on a pressure solution Monday, but will continue to hold public meetings on the issue until a decision is made.