City pumped over water improvements
Odorless and colorless. That's what kind of water the City of Marion wants residents to see coming out of their faucets.
For the past two years, Marion has received good marks for its drinking water production. But that was not always the case.
"We've had eight straight quarters without a single violation," said Brian Thomas, utilities director for the city. "We haven't even had a minor issue."
In the next week or so, the city will publish its annual Consumer Confidence Report regarding its drinking water, which is treated and distributed from its plant on Chapel Hill Road.
City Administrator Mark Bryant said the water system is leaps and bounds ahead of where it was in the summer of 2006 when a variety of issues were affecting its color, smell and taste, not to mention its chemical makeup. Back then, the city's public works department was having trouble balancing its treatment process. State and federal standards were not being met and the city was forced to notify its 1,600 consumers through advertisements, mailings and/or messages on their water bills.
There were several issues with complicated chemical explanations, Thomas says, but in simple terms, it was bad water and a flawed treatment system. Virtually all of those matters have been cleared up and the city has not had to publish a consumer warning since early in 2007.
At this point, any poor water quality throughout the city is attributed to the distribution system, the city administrator said.
“There’s nothing wrong with the water when it leaves the plant,” he added Tuesday.
Bryant said there is reason to celebrate the improvements in the city's water over the past couple of years. He says a new strategy along with some earlier distribution improvements made a big difference. He also hopes to get $2 million in federal stimulus money to build a new 12-inch water main from the Front Porch Restaurant at the southern edge of town to Second Street on the north side. An old six-inch line currently carries water along that route, and it is continuously breaking, which means the street has to be dug up for repairs to be done. It's a double-edged sword, he said. The lines are a patchwork of repairs and the streets are rough from all of the disturbance.
Thanks to grant funds, the city replaced a significant number of small distribution lines a few years ago. It also switched its raw water source from old City Lake to Lake George, which Thomas and Bryant say was a big step toward producing better water.
City Lake is shallow, about eight feet in the deepest spot. Although the 38-acre lake takes in runoff from a watershed of almost 3,000 acres it holds only about 40 million gallons of water.
Lake George, however, is deeper, about 27 feet in the deepest spot near its earthen dam. Although its watershed is less than 800 acres, it holds an average of 182 million gallons of raw water. At one time, there were questions about agriculture runoff into the lake, but those have been mitigated with help from the Crittenden County Conservation District.
Thomas says that the shallower City Lake was a big problem in the summer because aquatic vegetation and other organic materials were superabundant. In the deeper reaches of Lake George, fresher water can be found.
Thomas said the city also changed its philosophy regarding water storage in the summer when already treated H2O can go stale quickly in holding tanks. Now, the big tank on Wilson Hill is kept only half full, which is plenty to meet the local demand of about 450,000 gallons per day.
"Our water is better because we've changed our treatment process, we don't hold water in tanks as long and we have a better raw water supply," Thomas said.
Despite two straight droughts, flooding, two winter ice storms and other issues that created havoc for the water system, Bryant says the system has improved markedly and he believes customers have seen the difference.
"We don't have nearly as many complaints as we once did," Bryant said.

Fire leaves city family with little
Fire destroyed a mobile home on Sturgis Road in Marion Thursday morning, leaving the family in need of various items to help rebuild their lives.
According to Katherine Turner with the school-based Heart to Heart community outreach program, the family of Tabitha and Josh Sisco lost virtually everything to the fire. The family includes three children ages eight, six and four, Turner said.
Firemen arrived at the scene in Redbird Court at about 9:30 a.m. They quickly extinguished the blaze, but fire, smoke and water damaged all of their belongings.
The mobile home, owned by Willard Easley, was a total loss, firemen said.
Fire Chief Ronald "Red" Howton said the fire started in the living room area, maybe near a computer. The investigation was not complete at press time.
A neighbor, Allen Bishop, said he was walking by the mobile home when he heard a small explosion and flames shooting from the window. He tried the door, but it was already hot.
Bishop said the family renting the mobile home had just moved in a couple of weeks ago.
No one was home when the fire started.
Turner said the family was given some clothing but will need more. They are staying with a neighbor right now, she said, but looking for another place to rent.
Turner said donations are accepted at the Heart to Heart Center at 301 West Gum Street, the house west of the school entrance across U.S. 60 from the hospital. She said beds, linens, shoes, clothes, pots and pans and financial contributions are among the most needed items.

Land auctions could be indicators of market
Land speculators, farm owners and real estate agents will be watching closely three upcoming land auctions that could be good indicators of where the local real estate market has settled during the economic downturn.
A year ago, land prices had peaked in Crittenden County with recreational farms selling between $1,600 and $2,200 an acre and tillable land going even higher. Now, most observers say the market is trending downward and although few farms are moving, those that are are fetching a far lower price than only a few months ago.
In the coming days and weeks, there will be three land auctions, two are selling absolute with no price reserve.
This weekend a small 52-acre farm with a home is being sold by Double D Auction near Sturgis.
Later in May, there will be a large absolute auction of about 887 acres in six tracts, mostly in Crittenden County. Albert Burney Luxury Real Estate Auctioneers is handling that sale. Those tracts are owned by a private individual and are near Tolu, Sheridan, Dycusburg and one is at the edge of Caldwell County.
Another auction is also planned for about 180 acres near Frances. The auction company for that sale, Green River Timber, Auction and Realty, says there is an undisclosed reserve that must be met or it will not sell.
Jim Defreitas, a local real estate agent who deals in hunting and recreational property quite often, says the upcoming auctions will be a great bellwether for where the market is going.
"The market is definitely softer right now than it was this time last year," said Defreitas, who works at Belt Auction Realty in Marion and has nothing to do with any of the upcoming auctions.
At the Crittenden County Property Valuation office, there are very few measuring sticks to gauge the market price of undeveloped land right now. Since Jan. 1, only two farms have been sold in arm's length transactions, in other words not between friends or family. That's down tremendously from the same period a year ago.
County PVA Ronnie Heady said the slow down started last fall about the time Kimball International sold its nearly 12,000 acres in Crittenden and Union counties. That was a very unique piece of property and it averaged almost $2,000 an acre.
Since the first of the year, however, two tracts of undeveloped property have sold in private transactions: a 50-acre farm for $1,430 an acre and a 91-acre farm for $1,098 an acre. A public auction in the Mexico community a few weeks ago brought in about $1,000 an acre on two tracts of about 60 and 75 acres.
Darrin Tabor, another local real estate agent with Homestead Realty, said all eyes will be on the upcoming auctions.
"An auction is in reality the very best indicator of fair market value because that's what a piece of property is worth on that given day to everyone that's interested in buying," Tabor explained. "Right now who knows what it's worth. Nobody knows right now so these auctions will absolutely be good indicators."
"It's definitely lower right now," Heady said, regarding prices. However, he and Defreitas agree that most people are holding on to their properties right now, hoping for the market to turn upwards before deciding to sell.
Only nine residential properties have sold in arm's length transactions since Jan. 1, according to documents at the PVA's office. Defreitas said he only knows of two new homes under construction in the entire county.
The real estate agent says the winter ice storm has also taken a toll on the recreational and investment value of land.
"If you are buying it for recreation, look at how much you're going to have to do just to get it cleaned up," Defreitas said.