Spilyay tymoo., August 06, 1982, Page 10, Image 10

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August 6, 1982 Page 11
SPILYAY TYMOO
Good, clean water in Warm Springs
i ne cmet engineer at the
water treatment plant is Roy
Vaughn, who came here from
Oregon City, Oregon, where he
served as chief operator for
several years. Prior to that he
worked in Richland, Washing­
ton, water system for 20 years,
as supervisor pumping 320
million gallons of water per day
from the Columbia River.
Vaughn went to school at the
University of Montana, the
C la c k a m a s C o m m u n ity
College and he also received his
No. 3 certificate from Oregon
State University.
Steve Courtney, a tribal
member is the plant operator
attendant. A trainee who went
to sc h o o l a t C lac k m as
Community College in a water
works training program. Steve
is presently taking on the job
training and has been there
since last August, he will be
taking his test in November.
Kurt Kessecker, another
plant operator who has a No. 2
certificate in water works, Kurt
came here from Myrtle Creek,
Oregon. He attended Linn
Benton Community College in
Albany, Oregon.
During the summer months
Willie Fuentes will be working
as gro u n d s m ain ten an ce
engineer during his break from
college studies.
How the water system works
as explained by Vaughn. The
water is drawn from the
Deschuted river at the mouth
of Dry Creek through a
stainless steel intake filter this
filter is equipped with an air
line. The line is used to back
flesh the line by allowing all the
. debris away from the filter
screen.
The water flows by gravity
into the raw water well then
pumped by 20 horse power
pumps to the raw water header
where Aluminum Solphate.
Polymer, Corbin Soda Ash and
Clorine are added.
The plant has a pilot filtering
system, furnished by the
Neptune Micro Floe Co., of
Corvallis, Oregon, this filtering
system controls the amount of
chemicals necessary to produce
Dotable drinking water. The
water flows to four infilco
decrement filters and this
filtering system is the first of its
kind in the state of Oregon. It
operates on a vacuum system
which brings water into each
filter bay. The water is filtered
through 42 inches o mixed
media material, (gravel, sand,
etc.). Flourine is added to the
water before it is pumped by
three 900 horse power pumps
to the Tewee Butte storage
tank.
The finished w ater is
pumped through an 18 inch
high pressure line. The line can
stand pressure up to 375
pounds per square inch.
Backing the line is a serge
anticipater located on the
finished water heder. A serge
anticipater is a device that
detects any malfunction in the
pumping system. A relief
valve is automaticlly opened to
handle the back serge of water
that is in the line.
There is 17 miles of new
water line now serving Warm
Springs and Kah-Nee-Ta. The
Tewee Butte tank holds 1.5
million gallons of water. The
tank located south of Warm
Springs holds 2 million gallons.
There are two tanks at Kah-
Nee-Ta that hold 1.3 million
gallons of water.
There are approximately 6
million gallons of usable water
on the reservation, or a three
day supply if the system should
fail to operate. The only way a
shut down could occur is if one
of the dams broke causing a
wash-out or if a tanker truck
wrecked in the river hauling a
lo a d o f c o n t a m i n a ti n g
chem icals, o therw ise the
system is pretty well equipped
Kurt Kessecker
Steve Courtney
ROy Vaughn
The oldB J.A . reservoir that supplied water to Warm Springs for years now obsolete.
The air line back flashing the intake filter blowing all the debris A peek into the 12 fo o t deep finished water well viewing the three teepees through clean clear
away, keeping the filter clean.
drinking water.
Spilyay Tymoo photos by Sid