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The Missouri Water Co. is embarking on an extensive capital improvements pro gram for the years 1969 and 1970. Garvin H. Dyer, vice president of the company, re vealed that the $1,376,000 capital improvements budg et for 1969 is the largest in the company’s history. The budget provides for the engineering and for starting construction on an addition to the company’s Courtney Bend treatment and pumping plant. This will be the fourth ma jor addition to the plant since it was placed in operation in December 1956, and is neces sitated by the tremendous growth being experienced in the area. The addition will bring the rated capacity of the plant up to 24 million gallons per day, with a peak-load capaci ty of 30 million gallons per day. Dyer explained the necessi ty of building the addition now by pointing to the 20 million gallon per day de mand made on the plant on July 12, 1968. “The present rated capacity of the plant is 18 million gal lons per day and the peak load capacity is 22 million gal lons per day,” he said. Dyer revealed that Black and Veatch Consulting Engi neers of Kansas City, Mo., have completed most of the engineering work on the plant addition. The company is now in the process of taking bids and letting contracts for the ma jor pieces of equipment. It is planned to have the addi tion in operation by the sum mer of 1970. The estimated cost of the addition is $1,100, 000, of which some $400,000 will be spent in 1969. “We have been doing re search and planning on this addition for some time,”’ Dyer said. “Its construction at this time is in line with the com pany’s policy, of keeping ahead of the demand, so that we can continue to render first-class service to our cus tomers.” Dyer said the new addition would practically duplicate the addition completed in 1963, with a few minor im provements. The Courtney Bend plant is one of the most modern and efficient water treatment facilities in the country, and has many unique features. It has been visited and studied by many engi neers and engineering stu dents from many places throughout the world. Dyer announced that a new well, along with the necessary piping and power facilities, had been drilled and complet ed at Courtney Bend and would be placed in operation in the near future. The water utility is also constructing a 5 million gal lon steel storage reservoir about 500 feet north of 39th Street and west of Cracker neck Road. The huge concrete foundation for the reservoir has been completed by the local contractor, Maxwell and Associates. The steel tank is now being erected on the foundation by the Pittsburgh- Des Moines Steel Co. Work is being pushed on the reservoir so that it will be in service during the com ing summer. The purpose of the reser voir is to meet the extreme ly high peak-hour demands on hot, dry summer days. During the peak hours, from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m., water is pumped out of the reservoir into the system. Then during the off-peak hours, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., the reservoir is refilled. The Company presently has a 2 million gallon steel reser voir located at 35th Street and Weatherford Road, a 2 million gallon concrete reser voir located at Truman Road and Forest, and 3 elevated tanks with a total capacity of 5,100,000 gallons, all of which serve the same purpose of meeting peak-hour demands. Last year the company ex perienced a peak-hour de mand rate as high as 35.3 million gallons per day. In order to serve the reser voir, it will be necessary to lay a section of 30-inch trans mission main from 39th Street to 35th Terrace, a total distance of 1,925 feet. Teis Construction Co. is the contractor for the installa tion of this main and will start work on the project in the near future. Also under construction at the site, by Ross Wyss, builder, is a residential-type brick pumping station that will house three pumps at the present time, each having a capacity of 2,200 gallons per minute. These pumps will be operated by remote control from the Courtney Bend pumping plant control room, eight miles away. Space will be left in the building for the installation of two addi tional pumps when needed. “The total cost of the reser voir project is estimated to be $385,000,” Dyer said. “This new reservoir will be of con siderable help to us in sup plying the peak-hour demands this summer in the rapidly growing southeastern portion of our system, including Lee’s Summit, Blue Springs, Lake Tapawingo and District No. 8. However, its full utilization will not be felt until the sec ond 30-inch transmission main is completed from the Courtney Bend plant. “At present this main is in service from the Courtney Bend plant to 23rd Street and U.S. 71 Bypass. With the in stallation we are making this summer, the only portion that remains to be built will be from 23rd Street south to Crackerneck Road north of Hart Avenue.” Other items in the Compa ny’s 1969 budget include a number of minor improve ments to the Courtney Bend plant, some 10 miles of mains ranging from 6 inches to 30 inches in diameter, new me ters, fire hydrants, transpor tation equipment, short-wave radio equipment, and other miscellaneous items. “It looks as though we have two very busy years ahead, but all of these things are in conformance with our over all long-range planning and are necessary to enable us to maintain the first-class serv ice to our customers to which we are dedicated. The $1, 376,000 capital expenditure budget for 1969 does not in clude a similar amount which will have to be spent in 1970, nor does it include the much larger operating and mainte nance budgets. “It is quite evident that we will again, in 1969, spend con siderably more than our total income will amount to. This is only possible through the dedication of the present own er to render the very best service to our customers and the community, and to their policy of not taking one cent of the earnings out of the property. “Since the present owner ac quired the property in 1946, every cent of earnings, plus borrowings,plus contribu tions from the owner, have gone into the property to build it up into a first-class utility that will attract people and industry to the area,” Dyer said. The Missouri Water Co. supplies about 200,000 people in Eastern Jackson County, including the cities of Inde pendence, Buckner, Blue Springs, Lake Tapawingo, Lee’s Summit, Sugar Creek, Water Districts No. 2, 8, 13 and 14, and a large unincor porated area, a settling basin, two filter basins, and a second wash water tank, lower left. When completed and put into operation, the capacity of the plant will be increased to 24 million gallons per day. The total estimated cost of the new addition is $1,100,000. COURTNEY BEND PLANT .. . This is a composite photograph showing approximately how the Missouri Water Co. Courtney Bend Plant will look after com pletion of the new addition in the summer of 1970. The units to be started this summer are shown in the dotted lines. These new units are a contact basin,
Newspaper Details
Independence Examiner
Independence, Missouri, US
Tue, Mar 25, 1969
Page 47
Full Page
Clipped by
Aimee J.
USA 10 Jul 2026
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