Lower MUA Takes ‘Do It Yourself’ Approach

VILLAS — Everyone knows it’s cheaper to fix it yourself including Lower Township Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA)
Lower Township MUA Executive Director Mike DeMarcantonio told commissioners at a May 5 meeting, a sewer main break on Kentucky and Oaks avenues in Villas was repaired by MUA employees.
“When we had contractors come in and do it, it cost us $116 a foot to install and with our forces doing it, it cost us $23.59 a foot,” he said.
He said the project was a learning experience for the MUA crew.
“It took them maybe two or three times longer than it should have but they got it down, they know what they are doing now, they did a real good job,” said DeMarcontonio. “They put 930 feet (pipe) in.”
DeMarcantonio said MUA would slip a 40-foot pipe into the existing sewer main that goes under Bayshore Road at Kentucky and Oak avenues. He said the pipe would cost about $700 including a technician to complete an electric weld.
“It’s a very good deal, we don’t have to tear the road up,” said DeMarcantonio.
MUA Board of Commissioners Chairman Nels Johnson asked if the utility had the equipment to undertake similar repairs in the future as took place at Kentucky and Oak avenues.
DeMarcantonio said a pump broke down during the project necessitating renting a replacement which increased costs. The pump was repaired but a permanent six-inch pump will be needed in the future as well as a new excavator which also broke down, he said.
The project was halted for a week and a half waiting for parts to arrive for the excavator.
The pump and excavator are operable at this time, said DeMarcantonio.
Commission approved a change order for the Millman Water tower which lowered the cost by $59,445.
Also approved: making application to the local finance board for $12 million. DeMarcantonio said the MUA should know in two weeks if it would receive $12 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for a water main project. At the completion of the project, USDA pays out $12 million.
If the amount from USDA changes or the loan falls through, MUA will not go before the finance board, said DeMarcantonio.
MUA continues to explore solar power for its plant. DeMarcantonio said he met with a vendor for an additional solar panel system.
The system would require no capital expense from the MUA and lower the cost of electricity from 12 to 14 cents per kilowatt-hour to 8 cents, which would be a fixed cost.
A 50-kilowatt solar system currently in use at the MUA plant saved the utility $1,322 in electric costs last month, said DeMarcantonio.
He said MUA pays spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on electric bills. Johnson said a one or two-megawatt system could significantly energy costs.
One-megawatt solar systems are in use by The Gap’s west coast distribution center in Fresno, Calif., which uses 4,500 solar panels and at The University of California at Merced, which uses nearly 5,000 solar panels.
The university expects to save $5 million over a 20 to 30 year period in electricity costs.
Resident Joe Winters asked if solar arrays on the MUA property would interfere with future expansion of the sewer plant. DeMarcantonio said the