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RESOURCES Talent may reimburse Phoenix $40,000 for water use Comment By Tony Boom for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Tony Boom for the Mail Tribune Posted Jun. 13, 2016 at 12:01 AM By Tony Boom for the Mail Tribune Posted Jun. 13, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News PHOENIX — The city of Talent has tentatively agreed to reimburse Phoenix $40,000 for water it used, possibly for as long as a decade, that the city of Phoenix ultimately paid for, officials said. Phoenix City Council approved a tentative agreement between the two municipalities Monday, and Talent City Council will review the tentative agreement when it meets Wednesday. If the Talent council approves the proposal, both councils would need to sign off on a final agreement. "Nobody did anything wrong on purpose, said Phoenix Mayor Jeff Bellah. “The council feels pretty good about it. Let’s just move on.” A water meter that didn’t read correctly and a bypass valve past the meter that was not closed apparently resulted in the use of the water that was considered lost. The issues may have originated in the last decade, but reimbursement would cover just 2013 and 2014 usage because of difficulties in calculating previous usage. Both cities are wholesale water customers of the Medford Water Commission. Water is distributed by a main that runs through Phoenix and supplies both cities. The main is metered both where water comes into Phoenix and where it becomes part of Talent’s water distribution system. Bellah chaired a city committee that looked at the town’s water issues back in 2010 and 2011. One of those issues had been an average 20 percent loss rate annually, while Talent usually had around a 4 percent loss rate. “A real good loss rate is about 9 percent. That was probably the first time we started asking questions,” said Bellah. In 2013, Phoenix had the eight-mile Kings Highway line that connects the city to Medford Water Commission supplies inspected for loss, but little was found, said Bellah. The city then checked its own internal lines, speculating there might be a number of smaller leaks, but got a similar result. When Ashland linked to the distribution system in 2014, Rosemount meters were installed to provide consistency throughout the system, said Brett Marshall, Talent public works supervisor. After the meter change, Phoenix’s loss rate dropped. In 2015, the figure was 9 percent compared to 21 percent for Talent, according to information given to the Phoenix council. In 2009, Talent pulled the McCrometer company meter to have it tested. The firm reported it was operating correctly, said Marshall. In 2012, McCrometer replaced that one with a newer model at no charge. That meter showed similar readings. Funds for the payment, if approved, would come from the next fiscal year budget, said Talent City Manager Tom Corrigan. The tentative agreement calls for payment of the entire sum at the beginning of the 2016-17 fiscal year. Phoenix lost approximately 40 million gallons of water per year to Talent in 2013 and 2014. Payment was calculated at the lowest MWC wholesale user rate of 50 cents per 1,000 gallons. Phoenix purchased 303,224,000 gallons in 2014 and 258,882,000 gallons in 2015. Installation of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System by both Talent and Phoenix was going on this week, said Corrigan. The computer-run program will control water systems in both cities and provide water-use information. “Hopefully, that is going to give us the assurance for the future,” said Bellah. Tony Boom is an Ashland freelance writer. Reach him at [email protected] By Tony Boom for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Tony Boom for the Mail Tribune Posted Jun. 13, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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