🎥 Prairie Acres sewer district to be tied into Hays

prairie-acres-current — Prairie Acres current lift station location (Click to enlarge)

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

After years of discussion, the city of Hays and Prairie Acres, a residential development Just west of the city limits on old Highway 40, have reached an agreement to tie the private Prairie Acres sewer lift station into the city’s lift station.

Prairie Acres is a private sewer district. The system connects with the city’s sewer system and has been treated at the wastewater treatment plant since 2004.

The aging Prairie Acres meter has resulted in difficulties for city staff to determine accurate billing. It’s also become very time consuming for the city clerk’s office, according to Jeff Crispin, interim director of water resources.

“Waste water is typically very difficult to measure,” Crispin explained to city commissioners Thursday night. “Due to issues with their meter, staff has been estimating flows and billing quarterly based on ‘outside city’ rates.”

According to Crispin, when the Bickle-Schmidt Sports Complex, 1376 U.S. Highway 183 Bypass, was built in 2011, it was designed to receive Prairie Acres’ sewage and eliminate the Prairie Acres lift station. Staff recognized an opportunity assist Prairie Acres and negotiated a new agreement that brings their system up to date with the city’s current billing practices and rate structures.

prairie-acres-improvement — 105 ft. of sanitary sewer pipe will tie the Prairie Acres sewer system into the sports complex lift station. (Click to enlarge)

The project will require installation of 105 ft. of sanitary sewer pipe and a tie-in of the Prairie Acres sewer system to the sports complex lift station.

“The city is able to pay for this project upfront and Prairie Acres will be billed for the improvements as part of their regular bill. We have a 20-year time frame for payback by Prairie Acres, estimated at about $460 per quarter,” Crispin said. The project was included in the 2016 budget with $30,000 set aside in the Sewer Capital line item.

There are 51 homes, 51 sewer accounts, located in Prairie Acres, 28 of which are on rural water from Trego County.

“Within the last couple of weeks, Trego County Rural Water District has installed automated readers out in Prairie Acres,” Crispin announced. “That allows for all their data to be collected via cellphone tower and submitted into Trego County.”

Commissioners unanimously approved the low bid of $37,352.65 by APAC of Hays.

APAC indicated they would begin work in April and complete the project within five working days. No service interruptions are anticipated during this project.

City Commissioner Sandy Jacobs was absent from the meeting.