City Council plans to reconsider water rates tomorrow

In May the city of Graham approved a resolution to raise the base water rates and will be looking again at new water rate proposals during the regular city council meeting Thursday, July 27. The council decided to table action on raising the rates due to concerns brought up at a public forum on May 2. City Manager Brandon Anderson said during the May 18 city council meeting that implementing one of the two options from the consultant company La Costa Environmental would have had a negative effect on consumer usage. The base rate that was passed on May 18 was set to generate approximately $434,000 for the city in four months, Anderson said in the same council meeting. Burn out Along with the possibility of raised water rates, the City of Graham will be performing an annual disinfection of their water transmission and distribution system, subject to Texas Center for Environmental Quality requirements on Aug. 1-14. The test is required by TCEQ to change the city’s water transmission and distribution system to a cleaning process that helps it remain free of any biofilm growth. The switch from disinfecting treated water by use of chloramines, to disinfecting by use of free chlorine online will be executed. “We ask that both our customers and those consumers that our customers serve remember that this is a temporary measure and that this process is necessary in order to continually provide consumable water,” City Manager Brandon Anderson said in a press release. The process requires two weeks to produce the desired effect and during this time the chlorine residual will be elevated but still within TCEQ requirements. The water will have a chlorine odor during the process which will also cause some of the biofilm to break free and discolor the water due to Graham’s older water infrastructure. “Flushing both on the city side of the meter as well as on the customer’s side will be needed during this process,” he said. “Though there will be chlorine odor to the water, the water will remain potable.” TCEQ has approved the burning for the two-week process. For any questions and concerns about the process contact Graham City Hall at 940-549-3322. or at 429 4th St.