By Barb Pert Templeton
When repairs are being done at the Marine City Water Plant this fall water will be provided by East China Township.
A new intergovernmental agreement the commission approved at an Aug. 21 meeting will have East China Township supplying the city with water during two different week-long periods this fall.
Marine City Manager Michael Reaves told the commission that the agreement was for East China to supply the city with water as they renovate their water plant. He said the first process would start on or about Sept. 11 and go for about a week and then there will be a second time in November.
“These are all tentative based upon supply chains, we’ve already had it pushed back once already,” Reaves said.
If during the process there’s a fire in either community, where there’s a large request for water, under a mutual aid or good neighbor act the city would open their interconnect or East China will open their interconnect, Reaves said.
“This is a little different because we are going to be without water totally and they’ll have to supply all our water, keep the tower filled and supply water to Cottrellville,” Reaves said. “They have the capacity to do that however we’ll be taking a substantial amount of water over that period of time.”
Two things will be incurred from the usage. One is overtime hours by East China water plant employees which the township is estimating at $20,000 but Reaves feels that estimate is extremely high.
“I think that will fluctuate and as they get comfortable that it will go down,” Reaves said.
The second cost the city will incur is payment for the water they consume during the time water is provided by the township.
Marine City Manager Michael Reaves speaks at a recent
“It’s reasonable and we will pay their normal residential rate for that,” Reaves added.
No funds for this expense
At this point there’s no fund established for the impending water costs. Reaves said there was no allowance made for it by the city.
“We got to pay it but we’re just not sure where it’s coming from yet,” Reaves said.
“The ready-to-serve water isn’t being touched for the project so they can always go there and we’ll still be collecting for water as if it’s being used here, it’s not like bills are going to halt said,” City Treasurer Katy Posey said.
Reaves said it’s all part of the process in order to make the changes that need to be done at the city’s water plant and the city has no other options.
“And very candidly if something goes wrong under this agreement, they’ll have the authority to shut our water off,” Reaves said. “And right now I’m working towards making sure that those things don’t happen.”
There have been two testing runs that were successful and Reaves said he’s confident things will work out well.
“We’ll just end up paying for the water we consume as will Cottrellville,” Reaves said.
City Attorney Robert Davis said the 2024 Water Quality report for East China’s water is an exhibit to the intergovernmental agreement and it’s a very good report.
“So, the water quality that we will be receiving during these interim time periods is of good nature and good quality,” Davis said.
He went on to state that he and Reaves did the “lions’ share of work” on the agreement because it was something the city needed and East China was very cooperative in getting things over the finish line.
“The document you have in front of you, they agree with,” Davis said.
Commissioner Sean O’Brien asked if residents would notice a difference in their water bill or perhaps go without water while the system switches over.
Reaves said the city will charge its normal rate for water service and citizens shouldn’t notice anything when the switch occurs. He said there’s no plan in place at this time to notify residents of low water pressure or anything like that.
Reaves said it’s still important to realize that just one event could change all that because what if say they suffer a 12 inch water break, as happened recently in the city.
“We have to be very mindful of this process and I’ve asked the people working on the water plant renovation to keep one tank in reserve at all times in case we have to stop the process and fire it back up,” Reaves said.
At the same time, he said he thinks they are ready for the water change over and they need to get it done.
Officials then unanimously agreed to the drinking water purchase and consumption agreement with East China Township. Commissioner Trish May was absent from the Aug. 21 commission meeting.
