The future of Artesia’s water system could be decided at Tuesday’s meeting of the Artesia City Council.
After hearing a presentation from Occam Engineers Inc. – the firm hired to provide recommendations regarding permanent disinfection of the city’s water – at its Oct. 24 meeting, the council and the Infrastructure Department were left to mull over the six suggested systems.
Ranging from UV to sodium and calcium hypochlorite to trichlore acid pellets, Occam said all six methods they’d researched were proven safe and would not be particularly difficult to operate.
The firm was still in the process of obtaining test results to determine the exact chemistry of Artesia’s water, however, which could have an impact on some of the systems. Occam also reminded the city overall implementation would be a bit more difficult than in communities that utilize tanks as a central point for distributing water; several of Artesia’s eight wells distribute directly into the community, meaning multiple systems would need to be purchased.
The price tags ranged from a high of $520,000 for UV to a low of $85,600 for trichlore pellets.
Tuesday’s meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall.
