CAREFREE TRUTH
Letters from Readers & Events: 7/2/14
(Lyn's note: Please feel free to send us any pictures you'd like included. If your photos are for sale, let us know and we will put them under that category. We have a special section for that purpose, and have just added some art as well. Check out Tom Baker's photos for sale. He's the photographer who took that gorgeous photo in the Carefree Gardens Photo Contest that was both the judges' first pick and the public favorite. It's now featured on the Town of Carefree website, and will be the cover of the 2014 Gardens calendar that will be for sale later this summer at Carefree Town Hall. If anyone would like to buy a print of any of Herbert's photos, all profits will be donated to one of the local non-profit organizations.) Here's the link to this week's Pictures of the Week.
http://carefreetruth.com/Carefree_Truth/Photos_7-7-14.html
(Lyn's note: If you are going away on vacation this summer, the phone # for MCSO's Vacation Watch is 602-876-1742. This is a free service performed by the volunteer Posse.)
(Lyn's note: A number of us in Carefree are serviced by the Cave Creek Water Company. Cave Creek Councilman Reg Monachino emailed this update to me yesterday afternoon.)
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Today we are declaring a Code RED Water Emergency in an effort to allow our water customers to curtail their excess water use. This morning I met with the Mayor and Acting Town Manager (Carrie Dyrek) to apprise them of the situation. This situation has arisen because of several events over the past few days most notably:
The loss of a 350 Gallon Per Minute water well in Desert Hills due to a pump and motor failure possibly exacerbated by a failed check valve in the well column pipe.
2. A significant decrease in Central Arizona Project (CAP) water delivery to the Water Treatment Plant (WTP) due to excessive Quagga and Zebra mussel buildup at the CAP Pump Station #2. This pump station was just cleaned of this invasive aquatic species less than 30 days ago.
3. The loss of two water booster pumps at the Sentinel Rock Pump Station due to a Three-Phase power leg failure of the APS electric line servicing the facility. This caused both pump motors to burn up and we had several hundred people out of water for most of last night.
4. Due to the excessive amounts of water being consumed due to the hot (100 degree +) weather, the Water Treatment Plant has been unable to keep up with the water demand and consequently our water storage tank levels have dropped to 65% of capacity in Cave Creek and 50% of capacity in Desert Hills.
Emergency measures being taken at this time include:
The water well in Desert Hills has been pulled for repair and rehabilitation. By noon (approximately) tomorrow, this well will be back in service. Laveen Pump is currently performing the work. We are installing a new seven stage submersible pump and motor, 26 new sections of twenty-foot long 4” diameter column pipe, a new well seal and discharge head, and new PVC well sounding tube. This should provide a five-year service life before we need to pull this pump and motor again.
2. By about noon today, we are scheduled to have a crane truck and vactor truck on site at the CAP 2 Pump Station to remove the Quagga and Zebra mussels from the pump housing. This should increase our primary water delivery by about 500 gallons per minute to the Water Treatment Plant.
3. During the nighttime hours, our staff worked to secure a temporary pump and installed it at the Sentinel Rock Pump Station. APS had to pull over ½ mile of 2nd leg 3-Phase power to our site so that this temporary pump could work. We are in the process of securing two new pumps to replace the damaged ones and a third spare pump to have at this site. APS will be paying for the new pumps and our staff overtime hours last night to correct this problem. At this time, water service has been restored to this neighborhood.
4. We have adopted a temporary policy of round-the-clock coverage for the Water Treatment Plant until we can restore water tank levels back to a serviceable level. We expect that this will take the rest of this week and most of the weekend to complete. Our staff at the Water Treatment Plant are now on 12-hour shifts and will operate the plant at full treatment capacity until further notice.
This is the first time since my arrival at the Town of Cave Creek that we have had so many water related problems occur all at once. I have been out with staff during most of the night and have been in constant contact throughout the day today. I want to point out that this team has pulled together and exhibited extraordinary teamwork to work through this crisis. This team is by far the best field operations team I have worked with in 35 years! Several of our staff have been up all night and are now working in excessive temperatures to insure that our customers have safe and reliable drinking water. I appreciate the tireless efforts of this team and continue to be impressed at how willing other Town Staff are to help out during this crisis. Please feel free to express your thanks to them as well.
Happy July 1st to one and all!
David S. Prinzhorn. P.E.
Town Engineer/Public Works Director
Town of Cave Creek
37622 North Cave Creek Road
Cave Creek, Arizona 85331
(480) 488-6618 direct
Hi Lyn,
Thank you again for the beautiful photos and video!
You got the kiddos personalities exactly right;)
Thank you so much for noticing and appreciating our efforts to raise considerate and respectful children who will grow to become productive members of society.
Some of us Moms have heard that a splash pad is in the works for Carefree. Do you have any information on that development?
Would love to know where and when the splash pad will go. We could really use it!
We look forward to enjoying the new Carefree Parks and hopefully seeing you and Herbie out taking nature photos again very soon!
Sincerely,
Carla L.
(Lyn's note: Carla is the mom of the cute kids on the Carefree playground equipment that I sent out recently. Their family also enjoys our Carefree Christmas Festival.)
Lyn:
Great shots. You know it's late spring/early summer when you see all the red-colored bird poop all over the place after the birds have been pecking away at the saguaro fruit!
Factoid: The crested saguaro is rare, one in 30,000, but the cactus in the Desert Gardens that takes the cake is the small crested organ pipe near the green room, left of the stage. One in 300,000!
I took a tour of the Gardens that was conducted by the top cactus honcho from the Phoenix Desert Botanical Gardens and he admitted that they didn't have one! The boojam tree near the Town Hall is also a rare specimen. It is estimated to be 100 years old.
I do not think that enough people fully understand what a jewel that we have in Town thanks to Juanita and Mark Wdowiak. The fact that it is wide open with no admission charge probably makes people think it is "just more desert landscape", you know...as in "just a firefighter"!
Arthur Gimson
Photo by Herbert Hitchon
