Thursday, July 30, 2009 - Moorhead Public Service (MPS) has scheduled a road closure in north Moorhead for watermain repair. The road closure will affect 11th Street North from 8th Avenue to 9th Avenue North beginning today Thursday, July 30, 2009. The watermain is expected to be repaired by the end of the day. Residents that use this portion of 11th Street North are encouraged to find alternate routes during the day.
Road Closure Information:
Street: 11th Street North from 8th Avenue to 9th Avenue North
Dates: Beginning Thursday, July 30, 2009, lasting approximately one day
Posted by: MPS Communications Director, Doug Rogness
Monday, July 20, 2009 - Dan Portlock, a part-time Water Plant Operator for MPS, received a $2500 scholarship from the Minnesota Section of the American Water Works Association (AWWA). Dan will use the scholarship toward attaining his master’s degree at NDSU in environmental engineering. Dan graduated from NDSU with a civil engineering degree in May, 2009. He intends on continuing to work part-time at the MPS treatment plant throughout his graduate studies. Dan has been employed by MPS since the spring of 2008.
For his graduate research, Dan intends on investigating the formation of bromate at the MPS treatment plant. MPS water treatment plant is in compliance with current Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations for this contaminant. However, Dan’s research may reveal cost saving measures through optimizing control strategies the treatment facility uses in meeting the EPA regulation. Bromate is a disinfection by-product that is a suspected carcinogen for humans. It can be found in treatment facilities that use ozone or produce bleach on-site for water disinfection.
MPS water plant has over a twenty year history of hiring local university students to assist in operations. Typically, students studying in science or engineering are hired. In addition to helping with MPS operations, students may be attracted into the water and wastewater field. Prior to Dan, other students working for the MPS water plant have received scholarships from the Minnesota Section AWWA. Dan learned of his scholarship in early-July.
Posted by: MPS Water Plant Supervisor, Troy Hall
Friday, July 17, 2009 - I don’t know about you but I never liked the idea of a rebate for a product. Why not just lower the price of the product rather than charging me the higher amount only to send me a rebate check thus effectively lowering the price of the product? With this in mind, MPS is offering an incentive for you, the residential customer, to purchase or upgrade your anticipated purchase to a qualified Energy Star appliance.
This incentive is not associated in any way with the manufacturer or the price of the product, but is based solely only the energy efficiency of the product. To qualify the appliance must be one of the items listed under the residential section of the Bright Energy Solutions web page, http://www.brightenergysolutions.com/ and meets current Energy Star ratings.
To get the incentive download the form and appliance list from the above web site or get it from your local appliance dealer where available. You can also get the form and list by calling Moorhead Public Service, 218-299-5400, and we’ll mail it to you. Fill out the form and include the required documentation then mail it to us. If everything checks out you should see a check in your mailbox within 8 weeks.
If you have any questions feel free to contact me at 218-299-5225 or email me at deisenbraun@mpsutility.com.
Posted by: MPS Energy Services Manager, Dennis Eisenbraun
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 - On Tuesday, July 14, 2009, the Moorhead Public Service Commission (Commission) held their only scheduled meeting for the month of July. All in all, it was a pretty quiet meeting; most items on consent and little discussion on the items that were not. A couple items from the meeting that are note worthy:
Mid-year Report on Energy Sales: MPS Electric Division Manager Dave Kahly provided a report to the Commission outlining the current status of energy (electricity) sales for MPS. MPS divides energy usage into 3 categories; General Service (large commercial and industrial), Small General Service (regular/smaller commercial) and residential. Energy sales overall are down by 2.6%. This is primarily due to a 4.9% drop in General Service. Why? Well, we don't really know for sure, but Kahly believes the combination of a 12% rate increase and a cold winter has caused some companies and individuals to change the way they use electricity. The good news...although energy sales have dropped, MPS has also seen a reduction in purchased power costs; therefore, the financial position of the utility has not been negatively impacted. Kahly provided some graphs and more details that are included in the Commission agenda (click here if you want to view the agenda).
Report on MPS' activities relating to stimulus funding: At previous Commission meetings, MPS has discussed moving forward to apply for funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 passed by President Obama. MPS staff is working on this, and I will post an update on the project in a later post.
Changes to the Upcoming Meeting Schedule for the Commission: A few changes for the next few weeks:
- July 28, 2009, rescheduled to Aug 3, 2009
- Rate hearing at 5:00pm during the Aug 3 meeting (discuss incentive rates for commercial accounts)
- August 11, rescheduled to August 18
- August 25, cancelled
As I noted, all in all a quiet meeting. Other topics were, of course, discussed at the meeting; however, these are just a few of the larger items. If you have any interest in attending any of the Commission meetings, you can find the meeting dates and times online at mpsutility.com/minutes. The Commission meets at City Hall, on first floor in the Council Chambers. Don’t forget, you can now watch the Commission meetings live on Moorhead Community Access Television, cable channel 12.
Posted by: MPS Communications Director, Doug Rogness
Monday, July 13, 2009 - As you are driving around Moorhead this summer, you may see our crews out working and wonder what we are working on. This summer we have several large projects in place to improve the electric system reliability, stability, and operational efficiency.
- The first project was a cable replacement project on 3rd St. S. between 2nd and 4th Ave. S. This project is complete and will allow us to abandon the old cable under the Woodlawn Park which is due for replacement and floods every spring.
- We also had a cable replacement project in the Moorhead Industrial Park which is also complete.
- Due to reconstruction of Clay County Road #11, we had the replace 2 miles of 3-phase line which provides power to the MPS' North Buffalo Wells.
- Currently we are working in the Village Green area with a large cable replacement project that is expected to be completed by the end of July.
- Other large projects include a feeder tie-line from 14th St. S. and 45th Ave. S. to 6th St. S. and 46th Ave. S. This project will improve the backfeeding capability of the electric distribution system and improve system reliability.
- Coming up soon is the addition of a feeder from the Southeast Substation to the east side of Mccaras. This project is approximately 2.7 miles long and will improve the ability of the electric distribution system to provide power to the large industrial loads in this area.
Friday, July 10, 2009 - We begin another year of watermain replacement projects for Moorhead Public Service. Did you know that this is 25th year of the watermain replacement program at Moorhead Public Service. Many people ask why we need to replace watermains. There are many answers to that question, and I hope to answer those questions in the next couple of bullets below.
- The main reason behind watermain replacement is to reduce the occurrence of watermain breaks which typically occur during the cold winter months of Minnesota.
- As of 2009, Moorhead Public Service has approximately 40 miles of what we classify as watermain that needs to be replaced.
- The pipe material that is replaced is called Cast Iron Pipe. The soils up in this neck of the woods just causes a lot of corrosion to the pipe which leads to the many watermain breaks that occur.
- The pipe material that we replace the Cast Iron Pipe with is called Polyvinylchloride or PVC. The expected life span of this pipe is well beyond my life time and probably my kids lifetime (100 years or greater).
- As of 2009, it is estimated that the total cost of replacing all of the 40 miles of watermain that needs to be replaced it would cost approximately $30 million dollars.
- At the current rate, MPS replaces about 1 mile of watermain a year. Currently, MPS partners with the City of Moorhead on some projects where the City is replacing the street and the watermain under that street is also replaced during the same project. This at times raises our rate of removal to about 2-3 miles per year.
- During the 2009 construction season, MPS has five areas on tap for watermain replacement. Just a reminder to the residents that are affected by these areas this year, our crews are working as fast as they can to get your area back to normal.
Until next time!
Posted by: MPS Water Distribution Engineer, Jared HellerWednesday, July 8, 2009 - Moorhead Public Service (MPS) has scheduled a lane closure in south Moorhead for emergency water service repair. The lane closure will affect northbound traffic in one lane on Eighth Street North from Main Avenue to the railroad tracks beginning today, Wednesday, July 8, 2009. The lane closure is expected to last approximately one week and residents that use this portion of Eighth Street are encouraged to find alternate routes over the next week.
Road Closure Information:
Street: 8th Street North from Main Avenue to the Railroad Tracks
Dates: Beginning Wednesday, July 8, for approximately 1 week
Posted by: MPS Communications Director, Doug Rogness
Thursday, July 2, 2009 - The MPS Offices will be closed on Friday, July 3, 2009 in observation of the Fourth of July holiday. If you have a bill that needs to be paid, try our new online payment option at www.mympsbill.com.
Have a Safe and Fun Fourth of July!
Posted by: MPS Communications Director, Doug Rogness
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)