An agreement that will add 851 customers and another 400 gallons per minute in capacity to the Oxford Township water system was approved 5-2 by officials last week.
Under the transfer agreement, the township will, at no cost, become the owner and operator of the four private wells and well building which supply water to the 851 homes in the Lake Villa Manufactured Home Park on Lakeville Road.
Not included in the transfer are the water pipes, leads, sewer lines, internal mains, hydrants and shut-off valves which make up the park’s internal water system. Lake Villa will continue to be responsible for the maintenance and repair of the internal system.
Lake Villa’s well system will be connected to the township system via a 16-inch water main to be extended from the Willow Lake subdivision, where it’s currently capped, eastward to the manufactured home park.
The agreement states that Lake Villa will pay the first $15,000 of the costs of initially connecting to the township system. The township will pay the rest.
‘In your professional opinion, do you think this is a wise investment for our water system’s future?? asked Treasurer Joe Ferrari of township engineer Shannon (Parry) Filarecki, from Rowe, Inc.
‘I think it’s a very wise investment,? Filarecki replied.
She explained how the township had spent more than $500,000 investigating an acquifer to develop a new well field for the $3.4 million treatment plant being built on Granger Road, north of Seymour Lake Road.
In contrast, the Lake Villa wells are already in use and no treatment plant is necessary for the water they produce.
‘The water quaility at Lake Villa is of the same quality, if not slightly better, than what you have at Oxford Oaks and you do not need a water treatment system there,? Filarecki told officials. ‘The arsenic levels are non-detect. The iron levels are substantially lower than what you see coming out of (the) Oxford Woods and Mickelson Shores (well fields) so the orange water complaints aren’t a big deal either.?
Lake Villa’s well system will also give the township the additional capacity it needs. ‘The capacity that’s pumping out of there right now is in excess of what Lake Villa would use,? Filarecki told the township board. ‘And it would account for the additional 400 gallons a minute that you’re are currently short within your system for the build-out of the existing water distribution system.?
In 1999, it was determined that the township water system needed to increase its capacity by 2,000 gallons per minute to meet the municipality’s needs when it reached its ‘build-out? point.
‘Build-out? is ‘when the entire water distribution system is fully built out, all of the properties are developed, all the homes are constructed, and there’s a (Certificate of Occupancy) in every last one of them,? according to Filarecki.
The new well field on Granger Road will produce another 1,600 gallons per minute for the system, while the Lake Villa wells will bring the total capacity increase up to 2,000.
Besides increased capacity, the Lake Villa well transfer will add 851 new users to the township water system. More customers will help pay off the $17.725 million bond debt the township has incurred for the on-going improvements to its water system.
System users currently pay a capital charge of $128 per year (or $32 per quarter) per Residential Equivalent Unit (REU) to retire debt.
An REU is a way to equate high volume water users to single family homes, which are used as the standard.
The single family residence with its value of 1.0 REU is the basis around which all other facilities? water consumption is measured according to the REU schedule established by Oakland County in the late 1960 or early 1970s.
Manufactured and mobile homes are not considered to use as much water as single family residences, so they are each assigned an REU factor of 0.6.
As a result, Lake Villa’s 851 manufactured homes are equal to 510.6 REUs. Multiplied by the $128 capital charge, Lake Villa will contribute $65,357 annually toward the retirement of the water system bond debt.
It hasn’t been formally decided when the township will begin assessing Lake Villa the capital charge, but officials are looking at November to coincide with the beginning of a quarterly billing cycle, according to township attorney Gary Rentrop.
Part of the Lake Villa well transfer agreement also grants the township a permanent easement across the eastern edge of the park so a 16-inch water main loop can be constructed from Lakeville to Drahner, giving the system greater redundancy and reliability.