The board of directors of Choctaw Utilities would like to take a moment and update all residents of Choctaw Lake regarding the construction of the new water plant for our community. The process of research-discussion-funding-engineering has been taking place for several years and we are happy to report that work on the plant began back in March and has been ongoing.
As you all know, we have been experiencing an extremely wet spring and early summer. Since this is the time of the project when most of the site work is scheduled, the weather has made it very difficult for our contractor, Capital City Mechanical, to do this site work. Though they are a few weeks behind because of this weather, they are still making progress.
In the last 8-10 weeks, our contractor has graded the new plant site, increased the size of the lagoon, and placed new pipes underground that will transport water between the various treatment processes. This piping was pressure tested and inspected before being backfilled to ensure reliability. Currently we are waiting for the weather to cooperate so that we can begin forming the footings for the detention tank and new plant. Every day it rains the trenches that are dug fill with water and make work impossible. Once we get the foundation in place and the building dried in, the rest of the work can proceed no matter what the weather is doing.
We have spoken on several occasions with our contractor to have him make sure he communicates with his subcontractors that the speed limit is 25. We are also pleased to report our general contractor, Capital City Mechanical, has been pleasant and easy to work with. Their subcontractors are chomping at the bit to get started once the weather breaks.
As always, the CU Board is available for questions.
Dave