Water service restored in Pine

Water service has now been restored in Pine with an admonition to conserve wherever possible.  Too bad it took a crisis to ask people in these communities to use water responsibly.

SCROLL DOWN FOR AN UPDATE FROM SAM SCHWALM, A REBUTTAL FROM GARY LOVETRO, AND THE LATEST FROM PSWID ON THE WATER CRISIS IN PINE.

Gazette Blog Editor's comment: The water crisis in Pine and Strawberry is no surprise to us.  In fact, since the Pine Strawberry Water Improvement District (PSWID) took over from Brooke Utilities, it has been a disaster waiting to happen.  We have never been fans of Brooke, but at least that company imposed conservation restrictions on those two communities.  To pretend all is well and allow residents to use all the water they want is a recipe for what is now happening.  And don't even get us started on the dubious deal PSWID made with local realtor/developer/Roundup columnist Ray Pugel to acquire his sandy well that was supposed to solve all the water problems.  

Pine resident Sam Schwalm is head of the watchdog group Water for Pine Strawberry.  Here is his take on the situation:

Hello Neighbor,

Most of you are aware of the critical problems that the PSWID water system is dealing with. At the end of this email is a copy of the latest information sent out by PSWID at 6:30 PM on June 20^th. The link to an article in the Arizona Republic is included below. Take time to read the comments. Some of them are pretty good.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/06/19/20120619gila-county-areas-no-water-use-advisory-pine-strawberry.html

What follows is a quick set of set of thoughts about the situation. It is more stream of thought than the usual e-mail I send out, so please excuse the rough edges. Some of the below is speculation and given the short time frame we haven’t had time to fully vet all of the facts.

A week ago Friday, there was quite a scene in the PSWID office when Mr. Lovetro fired Mr. Dean Shaffer and another field operations employee. Mr. Shaffer has been repeatedly lauded by the board over the years for his turn-around of the water system and it is generally acknowledged that Mr. Shaffer has the best level of knowledge about the water system.

Apparently the firing was done in Mr. Lovetro’s usual arrogant pugnacious style and included an offer by Mr. Lovetro to go outside and fight. A third field operations employee was put on leave because he objected to the firing of the other two. Our understanding is that CH2M Hill brought in temporary replacements from their Prescott Valley operations. We haven’t been able to determine the reason for the firing yet, so we don’t know if there was good cause for it or whether once again Mr. Lovetro has conspiracy theories dancing in his head. The situation leads to a few questions:

1.      Was there a building crisis in the water system and the firings were a result of that? Certainly, Mr. Lovetro’s past actions have shown a marked tendency to drive people out and then scapegoat them.

2.      With the most experienced operations personnel gone, did the temporary employees make a mistake that resulted in the current problems?

3.      Why is Mr. Lovetro doing the firing of CH2M Hill employees? One of the benefits that we saw with the CH2M Hill operations contract was that the PSWID employees would be insulated from the erratic and ignorant behavior of some of the board members. I can see where Mr. Lovetro can express his opinion to the District Manager that an employee should be let go, but it should be CH2M Hill that deals with their own employees.

At the April 14^th PSWID meeting it was said that the Milk Ranch Well #1 would be on-line by the end of May. Given that, PSWID is experiencing a shortage of water that must not have happened. It has been 18 months since they started work on the MRW #1. Perhaps they could have done much better focusing on getting that well on line rather than start two additional wells.

The PSWID board and employees can’t prevent most problems from occurring. As they say, sh*t happens. With all the construction on Pine Creek Canyon Rd the chance for sh*t happening has gone way up. What counts is how you show up when it does. A couple of thoughts:

1.      In the notice below, the threat of contamination is downplayed, and perhaps they are erring very much on the side of caution, but they are telling us not to use the water. The communication of that left much to be desired. Sending an e-mail to those who have signed up is insufficient. Several people I spoke to didn’t see an e-mail, but first learned about it from the news. I am sure there were many people who were unaware and used the water well after the notice went out. In a situation like that there should have been people knocking on doors and leaving fliers. I am sure that people in the community would have been happy to pitch in and help with that.

2.      The water for the Solitude Trails Domestic Water Improvement District flows through PSWID pipes. Were they given notice not to use the water?

3.      A good deal more information needs to be supplied during the resolution of the problem so that the public is kept informed. Vague statements about “mechanical issues” being resolved don’t cut it. Provide the detail and explain the plan and timeline to return to normal.

4.      When it is all over, present a plan to the public that explains the causes and how that will be avoided in the future.

That’s it for the moment.

PUBLIC NOTICE UPDATE

June 20, 2012

Dear Pine Strawberry Water Improvement District Customer:

As you are probably aware, the PSWID is experiencing a service outage resulting from a combination of mechanical issues, drought conditions and increased demand that are preventing water delivery to approximately 1,000 customers in the Pine section of the community. Here is the latest information available.

Water quality and who is affected

District officials say there is no evidence that the Pine Strawberry water supply is not safe. As a precautionary measure, however, homes and businesses in the affected area should refrain from using water for any purposes until the situation is resolved.

This restriction is for the Pine section of the community only; customers in Strawberry are not affected.

The list of affected Pine neighborhoods can found at http://pswid.org. The list remains unchanged from yesterday’s public notice.

The health language included in yesterday’s communication was provided in accordance with guidelines from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and our responsibility to take a cautious approach to water quality following water outages.

Corrective and safety measures

District employees are working diligently to correct the mechanical issues. Replacement parts have been ordered and are being installed, including replacement of two primary booster pumps in the system, which is already producing positive results.

We also have brought in additional workers from nearby communities as well as subject-matter experts to assist local staff. Staff members also are examining the entire system in detail to determine if there are any other water losses occurring.

Because pipelines in parts of the system were without water, it is necessary to chlorinate and disinfect these lines once water service has been restored. We are in the process of performing this procedure now. This is the same procedure that is used whenever a water line is repaired following a break. Once normal flow is restored, staff members will collect and analyze numerous water samples before giving clearance for consumers to resume normal use, erring on the side of caution to ensure that the public’s health and safety are protected.

With progress being made on resolving the mechanical issues, we will conduct water quality testing in the affected areas on Thursday June 21. The test results will be available on Friday. We will provide an update at that time.

Everyone needs to conserve

Because the outage has occurred at a time when dry conditions and high temperatures have increased demand that further strains the water system, ALL PSWID customers are being asked to practice conservation measures, eliminating all non-essential water uses such as watering lawns, car washing, filling swimming pools, etc., until further notice. Also please be on the lookout for any leaks or running water, and report any instances to the PSWID Office immediately.

Where to get water

PSWID has made arrangements to provide bottled drinking water to customers in the affected areas. It can be picked up from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the PSWID office, 6306 West Hardscrabble Rd

If your home or business is outside the affected area, there is currently no need for supplemental drinking water and PSWID asks that you refrain from obtaining available bottled drinking water to help ensure it is available for those who need it.

Where to get more information

• PSWID website: http://pswid.org

• PSWID office: (928) 476-4222

• Gila County Health Services: (928) 402-8802

• Arizona Department of Environmental Quality: (800) 234-5677

This update is from the group Water For Pine Strawberry. We will be sending out an update after each of the PSWID meetings with a summary of what the board did, additional facts that are relevant to what went on, and some commentary.  Updates on earlier meetings are available on our website: www.WaterForPineStrawberry.com .

Water For Pine Strawberry is a group of residents who are concerned about the community’s water issues and how they can best be resolved. Visit our web site, www.WaterForPineStrawberry.com, for more information. The website for PSWID is www.pswid.org .

Clarifications can be submitted by anyone who is explicitly named, implicitly identifiable, or a board member to items in this update. Clarifications will be posted on our website. We reserve the right to post a response. Clarifications must deal with the topics discussed in the update that relate to the individual or the board. They must be in family friendly language and be non-abusive. When the clarification is accepted, it will be posted to the website and notice of that posting will be added to the next update.

Schwalm issues 'clarifications'

Clarifications:

1.      When I said “…PSWID employees would be insulated from the erratic and ignorant behavior of some of the board members”, the point that I was trying to make is that PSWID employees should not be put in the position where different board members are directing them to do different things or that board members are not directing operations decisions when they know nothing about how to operate a water system. This has been a problem in the past.

2.      When I said “…whether once again Mr. Lovetro has conspiracy theories dancing in his head”. This is an opinion as I don’t know whether they dance in his head or not. I do know that several years ago he drove out the former board chairman, the district manager, the district engineer, and the district hydrologist when things weren’t going the way he wanted them to. It isn’t unreasonable to consider that in this situation.

3.      When I said “Certainly, Mr. Lovetro’s past actions have shown a marked tendency to drive people out and then scapegoat them.” Over the years Mr. Lovetro has at times made statements that disparaged the actions of the folks that he drove out in the previous item or laid some kind of blame on them. It isn’t unreasonable to consider that as a possibility this situation.

4.      I did get information today that Mr. Cole said that he fired Mr. Shaffer and the others. We got the sequence wrong, but still a question as to why Mr. Lovetro was participating and his behavior during.

 If Mr. Lovetro provides any additional material I will pass it along for your consideration.

From: waterforpinestrawberry@hotmail.com
To: glovetro@me.com
Subject: RE: June 20th PSWID Misc Info
Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2012 09:44:35 -0600

Hi Gary,

We are pretty certain that we have the facts right on the firing. If that isn't the case, then let me know what the facts are and I will correct them. As to the rest of it, that is my opinion based upon the behavior and actions that you have shown in the past. It did get presented a bit more directly than usual because I was tired and in a hurry.

If you would like to provide a rebuttal, I will send that out to my email list.

Sam
 

---

To: waterforpinestrawberry@hotmail.com
From: glovetro@me.com
Subject: Re: June 20th PSWID Misc Info
Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:35:34 +0000

Sam,

Everything that you have written in this email about me is an out and out Lie!!!  There is not one word that is true. I strongly suggest that you write a retraction immediately. I will not let you send information out to the community about me that is a blatant LIE!

Gary Lovetro

 

PUBLIC NOTICE UPDATE - PINE

June 21, 2012

Dear Valued Customer:

We continue providing regular updates regarding the water outage we are currently experiencing. Here is the latest information about the affected areas, progress on repairs and what to expect next.

Affected areas

·         The Strawberry Hollow Water Improvement District is NOT involved with the outage issue

·         The subdivisions in the affected area include Strawberry Mountain Shadows 1 and 2, Pine Mountain Acres, White Oaks Glen 1 and 2, Portals 1, Pine Creek Canyon, Valley View Home Sites, Cool Pines Estates, Berry Hill, Payson Concrete, Cypress Hills, and Pine Wood Haven.

·         The Strawberry community has not been affected.

Progress on repairs

Work crews have completed repairs to restore full service. Two booster pumps have been replaced and the water tanks are filling.

As repairs continue, some customers are starting to see their service return. Those customers are advised to continue avoiding any water use until sampling and testing confirm that it is safe to do so.

Water quality – sampling and results

Employees have collected samples from throughout the system and sent them to an independent laboratory for analysis today. We expect to receive those results by mid-day or late afternoon Friday, June 22.

Conserve and report

All customers are urged to continue avoiding any non-essential water use such as watering lawns. Even as water service is restored, time is needed for the reserve water supply to return to full capacity in the storage tanks.

PSWID employees and community volunteers continue to canvass the entire system searching for leaks or other signs of water loss from the system. If you spot any leaks or see water running for no apparent reason, please report it to the PSWID office.

Bottled water still available

PSWID continues to provide bottled drinking water to customers in the affected areas. It can be picked up from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the PSWID office, 6306 West Hardscrabble Road. You may also bring your own containers and fill them from available tanker trucks.

If your home or business is outside the affected area, there is no need for supplemental drinking water and PSWID asks that you refrain from obtaining available bottled drinking water to help ensure it is available for those who do need it.

Ongoing communication

The PSWID is committed to ongoing two-way communication with our customers and the community at large. Throughout this emergency situation, we are providing regular updates on our website and to our email subscribers. (If you are a not a subscriber, you can become one by registering through our website.) We will be adding information signs posted at the entrances to major subdivisions throughout the District.

Of course, it is simply impossible to reach each of our customers individually, so we also rely on local media as an effective means of getting out information to a large number of people as quickly as possible.

Where to get more information

·         PSWID website: http://pswid.org

·         PSWID office: (928) 476-4222

·         Gila County Health Services: (928) 425-3189 or the Hotline at (800) 304-4452 x8888.

·         Arizona Department of Environmental Quality: (800) 234-5677

 

This email is from the group Water For Pine Strawberry. We will be sending out an email after each of the PSWID meetings with a summary of what the board did, additional facts that are relevant to what went on, and some commentary. Please forward this email to friends and neighbors that are interested in the local water issues. If you would like to be added to or removed from the list for these emails, please reply to WaterForPineStrawberry@hotmail.com. Emails on earlier meetings are available on our website: www.WaterForPineStrawberry.com .

Water For Pine Strawberry is a group of residents who are concerned about the community’s water issues and how they can best be resolved. Visit our web site, www.WaterForPineStrawberry.com, for more information. The website for PSWID is www.pswid.org .

Clarifications can be submitted by anyone who is explicitly named, implicitly identifiable, or a board member to items in this email. Clarifications will be posted on our website. We reserve the right to post a response. Clarifications must deal with the topics discussed in the email that relate to the individual or the board. They must be in family friendly language and be non-abusive. When the clarification is accepted, it will be posted to the website and notice of that posting will be added to the next update.