We have had some citizens asking about the water supply in Cordell.
Cordell currently has a contract with Foss Reservoir Master Conservancy District (Foss) to purchase water which began somewhere around January 9, 1958 and was amended March 16”, 1964, June 1, 1972 and March 5”, 2001. The City of New Cordell has agreed to purchase 1,385,237 gallons of water each week. The City pays for this water whether we use it or not. If we go over this allotment we have to pay extra per thousand gallons. This contract is for 50 years beginning with the last amended date.
With all that said Cordell also operates its own wellfield that supplements the water purchased from Foss. We pump our wells to keep from incurring the extra costs from Foss for overages. The problems in our water system occur because of the two types of disinfectant that are used in the water. Foss disinfects the water they sell with Chloramines because the disinfectant will stay in the water for longer periods of time and allows the water to reach the far end of their distribution system with disinfectant in it. The Cordell wellifield water is disinfected with Chlorine. When Chlorine and Chloramines are mixed in the water it causes the Chlorine to neutralize the Chloramines and very little disinfectant is left over. In areas of the city that are furthest from the entry point the disinfectant can sometimes become nonexistent.
The only way to solve this problem is to increase the Chlorine input in the water so it overcomes the Chloramines and still leaves some disinfectant in the water in the end.
The City is required by ODEQ to keep a minimum of 0.2 parts per million of Chlorine at all points in the Water Distribution System. This means two tenths of a part of disinfectant to one million parts of water. Currently in the farthest points of our system which is the Southeast part of the City we are keeping a 0.3 parts per million of Chlorine Residual (/eft over disinfectant) in the water. This meets the =< minimum requirement set forth by ODEQ.
Some people have noticed a strong Chlorine smell in their water. I have talked with the Engineer at ODEQ and she assures me this is just the chemical reaction between the two disinfectants which causes odor problems. This reaction has to occur to bring the water to the minimum standards they require. This engineer is not employed by the City of New Cordell she is employed by the State of Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality.
Now, what are we doing to improve? The City of New Cordell has employed an engineering firm to develop and implement a plan Mu to change our disinfectant to the same disinfectant Musick - V that Foss uses. This will 203 S. Mark Cordell, Oklahoma eliminate the two different 580-832-535 disinfectants from working “Our against each other in our water system. Currently we do not have the ability to disinfect with Chloramines and it is quite a process to get a change approved. An application has to be sent to ODEQ including plans, specifications, engineering reports, disinfection profile and disinfection benchmark justifying such a change. After ODEQ approves the process then we can begin construction to add the chemicals to our disinfection process. Our engineer has been working on developing each piece of the plan to submit to ODEQ.
The engineer the City employed is also working on a hydraulic study which will tell us where we are needing to improve our underground water supply system. They will be able to tell us where the water pressure needs improved and how to get it accomplished as well as what areas need to be modified to allow the water to circulate and not be trapped in a dead end line. As with all changes to the water system reports, applications, engineering plans have to be submitted to the offce of the Department of Environmental Quality and approved by them.
Thank you,
J. C. Moser
City Administrator