By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
Grayson utility superintendent Gerald Haney gave the commission an update on the tube settlers at the October meeting of the Grayson Utilities Commission. The tube settlers, part of the filtration system at the utility plant, had been examined earlier in the year, and it was determined they needed replaced. Haney provided the update and reminded the commission it had been a subject of discussion over the last two meetings of the commission.
“This item is part of the water plant settling basin,” Haney explained. “It’s an early stage of the process of treating water. The first bid to replace them was almost $160,000. That’s the Brentwood stye tube settlers, like what we have now.”
“We called Veolia Water first,” Haney told the commission. “They were the ones who installed them originally, and their price included materials and labor to install the new ones.”
Haney told the commission that prior to the previous utility meeting he had spoken with Peloton Environmental, who also represents Brentwood tube settlers.
“They (Peloton) don’t do the installation, but they came up and looked at them and sent me a quote on materials.”
The price of materials from Peloton Environmental came in at a little over $52,000, Haney said.
Haney told the commission that he had continued to do price research and had talked to engineers familiar with the plant. In the process of doing that research Haney found another company that manufactures a different style of tube settler. Aqua Equip Technology, he said, makes a style of tube settler that will work in the Grayson Utilities Water Plant.
The AET style tube settler is made from plastic and would require no welding. The plastic tube settlers are also resistant to chemicals typically in use at a water plant.
“They are very durable as well,” he said. “And the price is substantially lower.”
Haney said the new tube settlers, including an extra support beam, were just under $24,000.
“And they are a four-week lead time opposed to 12-16 weeks,” Haney told the commission.
The AET style tube settlers are manufactured in Texas.
Haney said that he was intrigued by the price difference but remained a little cautious about bringing it before the commission. He spent the rest of the month contacting other places that had used the new style tube settlers to learn what their experiences were with their performance. He discovered that Frankfort was installing the AET tube settlers throughout their system. Haney said he also called a plant in Texas that has been using them for four years, and that plant said they were very pleased with them.
The commission discussed the bids and types of tube settlers, and Haney said he recommended the Aqua Equip Technology tube settlers. He also provided the commission with a bid from Opell Excavating for the installation, because they had already worked on the system twice. The commission voted to approve the purchase of the tube settlers from HP Thompson of Milford, Ohio and to approve the installation bid of $35,000 from Opell Excavating.
In other business, Haney made the commission aware that they did not receive the AMLER (Abandoned Mines Lands Economic Revitalization) grant. Haney said they had applied for the grant to replace water lines on East Grayson B and L Lane from 1910 to Cribbs Hill.
“I learned after the fact they (the state) opened up the abandoned mine program for the Western Kentucky Coal Fields,” Haney told the commission. “So, it was a lot more competitive this year. But we have already reached out to them and asked what we could do this year to make us more competitive when we apply next year.”
“I really would like to replace that line on US 60 along Stinson Creek,” Haney told the commission. “The estimate for it is $1,070,000. It is a really competitive project, and we hope it gets funded next year.”
Haney said that he has asked the state for recommendations to make the application submitted more viable for funding.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
