17

THE KANSAS LIFELINE

July 2018

Bert Zerr is currently a

consultant with KRWA.  

He has been with KRWA

since 2005. Prior to that,

Bert was a District

Engineer with the KDHE

in the Salina District

Office for 32 years.

west side of town was in a desired

location with electrical service readily

available but the water contained

excessive nitrate. The second location

and the eventual site of the new well is

located on the east side of town and the

water quality is satisfactory.

The new well was drilled by Sargent

Drilling, Broken Bow, Nebraska. It was

completed in November 2017. The

well was completed utilizing a 16-inch

casing inside a 30-inch drill hole to a

total depth 532 feet. Static water level

was at 265 feet providing 267 feet of

water in the well. The estimated yield

was 750 gpm but the actual pumping

rate was set at 550 gpm.

The pipeline connecting the well to

the city distribution system was

installed by King Enterprises, Liberal,

Kansas. Dave noted that the pipeline

contractor did a very good job on this

project and has been very helpful to the

city over the years.

gallons. By ordinance, the minimum

rate will increase by $2.00 until

monthly rates reach a level that is more

consistent with the minimum needed to

qualify with USDA grants and loans,

which is somewhere in the range of

$45 to $47 per month for 5,000

gallons. At that time, the city plans to

revisit the ordinance.

The overall cost of the project was

$650,000. The city received an

emergency grant of $499,000 leaving

them with a difference of $151,000

which was covered by funds the city

had on hand. City Clerk June Bender

noted that without the emergency

grant, the city would have had to

borrow money for this type of project.

With receipt of the grant, the city did

not need to increase water rates to

customers. Current water rates are as

follows: $31.00 for the first 3,000

gallons; $1.00 per 1,000 above 3,000 to

13,000 gallons; $1.50 per 1,000 above

13,000 to 43,000 gallons. and $2.00 per

1,000 for usage in excess of 43,000

Sargent Drilling in the process of

drilling the new Well No. 6 which will

replace Well No. 3 that was abandoned

due to low static water level.

This photo with the USDA Rural

Development project sign in the

foreground, shows Sargent Drilling in

the process of drilling the new Well No.

6 which will replace Well No. 3 that was

abandoned due to low static water

level. 

The well was 

completed utilizing a 

16-inch casing inside a

30-inch drill hole to a

total depth 532 feet.