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1. How is the City able to blend its water?

Currently, the City can blend its water in two ways:

• Distribution System
• Reservoirs

2. How does the city blend water with a distribution system?

The system operates using pumps, which create a pressure in the distribution system.

The Certified Water Operators have the ability to set the pressure at wells 4, 5, and at the reservoirs. Depending on water demand and other factors, water will be provided into the distribution system at different locations, where it encounters water from another source and is mixed. For example, if the pressure set point at the Oxford reservoir is higher than well Numbers 4 and 5 and the Merklin reservoir, and the demand is low, then the Oxford water could be providing water to the majority of the system and will mix with the minimal amount of water provided by the other sources.

3. How does the city blend water with reservoirs?

The Merklin reservoir has two wells that pump water into the reservoir, where the water is blended and sent into distribution by one pipe. The Oxford reservoir has three wells that pump water into the reservoir, where the water is blended and sent into distribution by one pipe. This was not previously possible, as the Oxford reservoir was not constructed. Now that the Oxford reservoir is constructed, the water from those wells can be mixed.

With the addition of the two new reservoirs, the wells at each reservoir can be adjusted to pump at different flow rates into the reservoir where the water is blended. For example, at the Merklin reservoir, there are two well pumps that pump into the large reservoir and the water is mixed.

Our Certified Water Operators have the ability to control each well pump. This includes turning a pump off and pumping from the other well, for example, running Well A at 20% and Well B at 80%. So the majority of the water in the reservoir is from Well B.