We went live with our new GIS system which provides our certified water operators with real time data accessible from any internet enabled device. 

EMWC's Board of Directors recently approved the budget for 2018. Under the new budget, water rates will increase by $0.15 per 1000 gallons. The new minimum monthly bill will be $29.86 (based on 3000 gallons). The largest contributor to the higher rate is a $0.40 per 1000 gallons increase in the cost of water purchased from the City of Bloomington Utilities (CBU). Partially offsetting these higher costs is a budget projection that benefits from improved efficiency in overall operations (see news item below on water loss). EMWC's information on rates and the 2018 Tariff can be found at Water Rates.

Recent events in Flint, Michigan have resulted in a renewed focus on lead and copper contamination of public water supplies. Many of the older homes in Flint were connected to their meter with lead water pipes, and a change to a more acidic water supply was the apparent cause for some of this lead to be "leached" into the water. EMWC is not aware of any homes on our system that use lead pipes for their water supply. However, we are only responsible for our side of the meter, and do not have detailed information about pipes running from the meter to the house. Many of our members do have copper plumbing, and sometimes the solder used contains small amounts of lead. Because of this, we do test for lead and copper at a number of homes throughout our system every three years. Please note that our lead and copper test results have never exceeded the EPA standards for safe drinking water. See our most recent Water Quality Report.

EMWC recently purchased a new machine that will improve our ability to make repairs and installations safer, quicker, and with a much lower impact on surface damage. The new "hydrovac" uses a high pressure water jet to surgically excavate the ground, and a large volume vacuum tank to actively remove the spoils. Larger water companies have been using this technology for many years, but recent improvements in the trailer-mounted versions and lower prices have provided us this opportunity to improve our service. Although we still have to use a backhoe for certain types of work, you will probably see the big orange DitchWitch trailer more frequently.