Officials show up to break ground on water treatment plant
HECO’s very own Doug Argo helped orchestrate the beautiful gold coated shovels for the event outlined in the article below. They are so pretty that you don’t want to get them dirty! In the old tale ” Jack and the Bean stock” There was a goose that laid golden eggs. Well it appears that we have an Engineer that can make Golden Shovels!
Following Article from The Argus Observer
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A number of people turned out for the ground breaking ceremony for the water treatment plant on Monday. Pictured, from left, are Jana Iverson, Nyssa School District; Kit Kamo, Snake River Economic Development Alliance; Lucy Beck and Torie Ramirez, Nyssa School board members; Kristen Nieskens, SREDA; Chrystal Rojas, Amy Harlan, and Marla Roberts, city staff; Nyssa Police Chief Raymond Rau; City Manager Jim Maret; engineer Doug Argo, Scott McGinnis, Duane Petty and Gerardo ‘Payo’ Gonzales, public works; and Scott Lavelle, senior civil construction superintendent with T. Bailey
NYSSA — Construction on Nyssa’s water treatment plant to treat arsenic is set to begin following the groundbreaking ceremony Monday evening, involving city staff, a representative of the contractor and local citizens.
The treatment plant, which will be built on city-owned property on the Idaho side of the Snake River, is required because of the a change in federal standards for arsenic levels in drinking water, said Nyssa City Manager Jim Maret during the event.
In 2005, the federal standard for arsenic levels was 50 parts per billion; in 2006 the standard had become 10 parts per billion, Maret said, with Nyssa’s domestic system averaging about 13 parts per billion.
“It was a long time coming,” Maret said of the treatment plant. He said former city manager Roberta Vanderwall had worked on it, along with interim city managers Raymond Rau and Lynn Findley contributing. Vanderwall had been working on getting design approval and funding for at least four years.
“I’m on the tail end.” Maret said.
Nyssa’s total funding package of grants and loans for the project is about $8.7 million. T. Bailey, Inc., of Anacortes, Wash. is the contractor for Nyssa’s and Vale’s arsenic treatment plant projects.
