City staff were recently made aware of a federal funding opportunity through the Community Project Funding Program, a program administered by the House Appropriations Committee. The program includes a number of categories including water infrastructure related projects. Congressman Zach Nunn has requested applications for this funding opportunity be submitted no later than March 15, 2023. A maximum of fifteen (15) requests for Community Projects can be submitted by each Representative.
The City Council has identified the NW Irvinedale Elevated Storage Tank project as a high priority for investment for the water utility as identified within the recently approved 2023 - 2027 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). Design of the elevated water storage tank is nearing completion and will be let for bids later this spring. Construction is anticipated to start in the summer of 2023 and could last until spring of 2025.
Construction of a new 2.5 million-gallon elevated water storage tank in the NW quadrant of the city for the purposes of providing additional water storage, and more reliable water pressure and flow for the system. Presently water flow is provided to this area of the system through a booster pump that operates inefficiently without storage. Once the elevated storage facility is constructed the city will be able to address the following concerns:
- Equalization of water demands on raw water supply, treated water production, water transmission, and pumping facilities;
- Stabilization of distribution system flows and pressures;
- Provision of reserve supplies in the distribution system for emergent situations such as fire suppression use, power failures, natural disasters, or failures within the water distribution system (i.e. main breaks);
- Reduced energy costs for rate payers through optimized pumping flows and pumping timing; and
- Extended system life due to reduced pressure variations. Because the system today does not have available storage, pumps must be on at all times to serve flow and pressure demands in the system. This results in the pumps being on low or high at any given time, rather than an optimized configuration that can smooth out those demands by also relying upon storage.
In addition to the technical needs for the improvement the following help justify the inclusion of the project:
- Utilizing federal funding for utility, particularly water, infrastructure projects helps the city address an area of need where some of the highest inflation on costs have occurred related to utility infrastructure projects;
- The city’s water utility continues to require substantial capital investment. That, along with wholesale water rate increases, is driving up costs. The city’s ratepayers, are experiencing (large) rate increases in water, and additional rate increases are projected. It is the area of greatest need for the city; and
- Leveraging federal funds for utility infrastructure projects to help offset capital costs in the city’s water utility helps every ratepayer in Ankeny, offering the broadest benefits, and in city’s area of greatest need/highest cost pressure.
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