Hundreds of angry water customers jammed a rare Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) meeting in Payson Friday to complain bitterly about steep proposed increases in the water rates for eight Rim Country communities served by Payson Water Company (PWC), formerly owned by Brooke Utilities.

Residents of Gisela and Deer Creek dominated the testimony, pleading with the three ACC commissioners to reject a company request for a 138 percent increase in average bills.

The rate plan would charge a base rate of $23 a month. People would then pay $4 per 1,000 gallons up to 3,000 gallons, $7.66 per/thousand for the next 7,000 gallons and then $9.62/1,000 gallons for anything above 10,000 gallons per month.

Monthly use averages about 3,000 for the whole system, but varies wildly from one community to the next. Meads Ranch residents average 851 gallons a month while Gisela residents average 6,874 gallons a month.

Gisela and Deer Creek residents mostly complained about that tiered rate structure. Residents of Mesa del Caballo, East Verde Estates, Geronimo Estates and other communities had different complaints.

Mesa del Caballo residents worried about those big increases on top of hefty charges to hook up to Paysons Blue Ridge pipeline.

Other communities like East Verde Estates worried about the additional imposition of water hauling charges when supplies run low in the summer, which could triple their bills.

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Angry pleas for rate hike relief

Water Main from House to Meter Replacement 1 of 10 marking the ground before digging
http://www.plumberx.com video 1 thru 10 Replacing the water service line to house from water meter out by street in pex pipe. Replacing the old PVC pipe. I called a...

By: Claude Taylor

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Water Main from House to Meter Replacement 1 of 10 marking the ground before digging - Video

Sugar Land, TX (PRWEB) April 09, 2014

For almost 30 years, the Doug Turner Plumbing Company has been providing plumbing services to the Sugar Land and Houston area. Now ready for the coming Spring, this Stafford-based company has expanded its offerings to better serve its clients.

Backflow prevention systems are required for making sure unclean water or wastewater does not flow backward into clean water systems. An example is getting toilet bowl wateror blue water due to a toilet bowl cleanerfrom a faucet. For the sake of family and community health, clean and dirty water must remain separate. Doug Turner Plumbing ensures that the ground water does not back up into the clean water system.

In addition to mixing clean and filthy water, backflow results in clogged drains. Doug Turner's licensed plumbers use conventional methods like augers and snakes to work on the clogs. However, in more extreme situations, the plumbers can use a hydro-jet machine instead. These are very powerful tools that shoot high pressure water and are mainly used in commercial buildings.

For diagnosing plumbing problems, Doug Turner's plumbers rely on the latest technology. That includes video pipeline testing, which consists of a video camera inserted into a faulty pipe for an accurate assessment of the problem. Doug Turner Plumbing can also service and repair faulty water systems. In fact, the company is a factory warranty service provider for Rheem's water heater line. Doug Turner can also install a brand new system if the customer so wishes.

For customers who want to eliminate the need for bottled water in their homes, Doug Turner provides water filtration systems. Water dispensers can be placed in the kitchen, bar sink and even the bathroom. For those longing for a complete overhaul of their plumbing fixtures as part of Spring cleaning, Doug Turner Plumbing is definitely up to the task. The company remodels and replaces plumbing in places like bathrooms, kitchens, pool houses and utility rooms, among others.

About

Founded in 1987 by the husband-and-wife team of Doug and Nancy Turner, Doug Turner Plumbing has served the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Town metropolitan area for more than 20 years. In addition to plumbing services, the company is certified to install factory-approved water heaters, water piping systems and steel gas piping systems. Doug Turner Plumbing is a member of the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce and the Houston Area Better Business Bureau. For a service request, Doug Turner Plumbing can be reached by dialing 281-980-9300.

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Doug Turner Plumbing Announce New Spring Services in Sugar Land, Texas

As the seasonal residents leave town and head back up North for cooler temperatures, we locals welcome the crazy lazy days of summer that is until the thunder blasts, the lightning strikes and the unrelenting rains pour down. If the past 10 years are any indication of the escalating threat and frequency of the ubiquitous summer storms, I fear were in for another tumultuous summer.

In addition to the havoc extreme weather changes can, and do, play on our homes, the age of our houses, villas and condominiums also dictate the need for some extra tender loving care especially in our absence.

The following list of ideas and suggestions was compiled to help you manage the transition between two or more homes, as well as to safeguard your investment when youre not here.

Dont forget

When traveling between two or more homes, keep one garage door opener and one full set of keys (front door, mailbox, safety deposit box, etc.), per home, in a separate Ziploc bag for easy access.

Take photographs of the clothes you leave behind. This way, if youre up North and cant find your favorite black cocktail dress or tuxedo, you can refer to the photographs.

Every five years, prepare a detailed inventory of all personal property, which should also include photographs/videos. Make two copies; one for yourself and one to keep in your lawyers vault.

HVAC & humidity

If youre leaving town for an extended period of time, do NOT turn the air conditioner off or put it on a warmer setting. Set thermostat to 75 degrees.

Leave ceiling fans on at all times. Contrary to what youve heard, the fans will NOT blow up and burn your house down, but they will circulate the air more efficiently in your absence.

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Marla Ottenstein's Get Organized: Checklist for departing seasonal residents

Lobby of the Black Building

The Black Building is seen Tuesday, April 1, 2014, in Fargo, N.D. Michael Vosburg / Forum Photo Editor

The Black Building is seen in this composite photo Tuesday, April 1, 2014, in Fargo, N.D. Michael Vosburg / Forum Photo Editor

The Black Building is seen Tuesday, April 1, 2014, in Fargo, N.D. Michael Vosburg / Forum Photo Editor

FARGO - A Fargo city prosecutor says he may soon issue an arrest warrant for an owner of the historic downtown Black Building for allegedly failing to properly install a new boiler system in the 84-year-old building.

City officials say the boiler system, which inspectors ordered to be fixed last year, isnt bringing in enough clean air to operate and so may be recycling old air throughout the building, which could cause dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide.

A city prosecutor who was unable to serve a subpoena on co-owner Lloyd Sampson said an arrest warrant may be issued in municipal court to get Sampsons brother, Daniel, another co-owner, before a judge to compel addressing the issue.

Theyre not cooperative at all, Assistant City Attorney Jason Loos said.

DTL Properties, which owns the Black Building, could face a fine of up to $81,000, or $1,000 per day for each day the company is alleged to have been in non-compliance. The city accuses the owners of DTL Properties of failing to comply with city code from Dec. 6 through Feb. 25.

Lloyd Sampson said in an interview Monday he is aware the city was trying to bring them to court, but he called the entire situation a misunderstanding.

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Owner of Black Building in downtown Fargo faces possible arrest for boiler problems

The White House itself once harvested the power of the sun. On June 20, 1979, the Carter administration installed32 panels designed to harvest the suns raysand use them to heat water.

Here is whatCarter predictedat the dedication ceremony: In the year 2000 this solar water heater behind me, which is being dedicated today, will still be here supplying cheap, efficient energy. A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, amuseum piece, an example of a road not taken or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people.

For some of the solar panels it is the former that has come to pass: one resides at theSmithsonians National Museum of American History, one at theCarter Libraryand, as of this week, one will join the collection of the Solar Science and Technology Museum in Dezhou, China. Huang Ming, chairman ofHimin Solar Energy Group Co., the largest manufacturer of such solar hot water heaters in the world, accepted the donation for permanent display there on August 5. After all, companies like his in China now produce some 80 percent of the solar water heaters used in the world today.

But they are based on the same technology developed here in the U.S. and once manufactured in Warrentown, Va., by InterTechnology/Solar Corp., the company behind the Carter panels.* Roughly three meters long, one meter wide and just 10 centimeters deep, the blue-black panels absorb sunlight to heat water piped through their innards. The Carter administration set a goal of deriving 20 percent of U.S. energy needs from such renewable sources by the turn of the century. Today, the U.S. gets a mere 7 percent of its energy from renewables, the bulk of that from the massive hydroelectric dams constructed in the middle of the 20th century.Solar thermal and photovoltaictechnology combined provide less than 0.1 percent.

By 1986, the Reagan administration had gutted the research and development budgets for renewable energy at the then-fledgling U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) and eliminated tax breaks for the deployment ofwind turbinesand solar technologiesrecommitting the nation to reliance on cheap but polluting fossil fuels, often from foreign suppliers. The Department of Energy has a multibillion-dollar budget, in excess of $10 billion, Reagan said during an election debate with Carter, justifying his opposition to the latters energy policies. It hasnt produced a quart of oil or a lump of coal or anything else in the line of energy.

And in 1986 the Reagan administration quietly dismantled theWhite House solar panel installationwhile resurfacing the roof. Hey! That system is working. Why dont you keep it? recalls mechanical engineer Fred Morse, now of Abengoa Solar, who helped install the original solar panels as director of the solar energy program during the Carter years and then watched as they were dismantled during his tenure in the same job under Reagan. Hey! This whole [renewable] R&D program is working, why dont you keep it?

After they came down it took a soft-spoken administrator from a small environmental college in Maine to rescue the Carter panels from being a forgotten curiosity stored in the dark corner of a vast government warehouse.

A long, strange trip In 1991 Peter Marbach was newly minted development director atUnity Collegein Maine, which was facing a severe budget crisis. Marbach needed to find a way to bring attentionand hopefully donationsto the struggling college and its mission: environmental education. Leafing through a magazine, he stumbled across a picture. There was this photograph of the solar panels, but they were all sort of disheveled and sort of tossed in a corner in this government service warehouse in Franconia, Virginia, he recalls. It was just such a waste.

Marbach, lithe from years of mountain climbing and other outdoor pursuits, seems slow to anger, but his eyes, crinkled at the edges from years of smiling, still flash when asked to recollect what inspired his rescue mission. Yet he doesnt sound angry, so much as bemused. It was in that instant where I was just so filled with anger and disappointment that: How could this happen? he says. Wouldnt it be something if I could somehow find a way to get these panels and resurrect them?

Marbach wrote to former President Carter, who wrote back: It would please me very much to see those panels in use again. He also enlisted the aid of Maines former U.S. senator, William Cohen. Armed with Carters letter and Cohens support he contacted theGeneral Services Administrationthe independent government agency that is landlord to other government agencies and generally runs the physical stuff of government. The GSA determined Unity was eligible as an institution of higher learning to take the panels for an administrative fee of $500.

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What ever happened to the White House solar panels Reagan dismantled?

ARLINGTON, Wash.

People with the Snohomish County Sheriffs Office visited Barbara Welsh Thursday, telling her what she had known deep down for almost a week: her husband was dead.

66-year-old Bill Welsh left their Arlington house Saturday morning to help install a water heater at Amanda Lennicks house on Steelhead Drive.

He was working with Stephen Neal. Another man, Steven Hadaway, was installing a satellite dish at the house.

Welsh and Neal have been found, but Lennick and Hadaway are still missing.

Welsh, an electrician, was married to his wife, Barbara, for 43 years.

At least I know hes in heaven with his parents, you know. They were probably shocked to see him come before others. I love him so dearly, Barbara Welsh said.

Governor Inslee even consoled Welsh in the first couple of days. But Welsh waited a total of five days before the final word.

Welsh said Bill was always attentive and considerate, making sure she got everything she wanted.

Bill always said that there was a reason that he survived Vietnam, she said. He got to meet Barbara.

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Wife of man who died in mudslide hopes others find closure soon

water

By: Keily Parkers

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water - Video

Tankless Water Heater Install
We just had Sky Heating install a new Navien tankless water heater. This is the before and after.

By: Travis Illig

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Tankless Water Heater Install - Video

Scald injuries affect all ages. Young children and the elderly are most vulnerable, which is why Harris County Emergency Corps (HCEC) wants to provide you with information on scald injury prevention.

Annually in the United States and Canada, over 500,000 people receive medical treatment for burn injuries. Roughly half of these injuries are scalds. Most burns occur in the home, usually in the kitchen or bathroom. Scalds can be prevented through increased awareness of scald hazards and by making simple environmental or behavioral changes. These include providing a kid-safe zone while preparing and serving hot foods and beverages, and lowering the water heater thermostat to deliver water at a temperature not to exceed 120 degrees.

Scald injuries are painful and require prolonged treatment. They may result in lifelong scarring and even death. Prevention of scalds is always preferable to treatment and can be accomplished through simple changes in behavior and the home environment.

Although anyone can sustain a scald burn, certain people are more likely to be scalded - infants, young children, older adults and people with disabilities. These high risk groups are also more likely to require hospitalization, suffer complications and experience a difficult recovery says Dr. George Kiss, medical director for HCEC. Most burn injuries occur in the persons own home and the vast majority of these injuries could have easily been prevented.

Tap water scalds are often more severe than cooking-related scalds. The American Burn Association recommends the following simple safety tips to decrease the risk to yourself and those you love from tap water scalds. Set home water heater thermostats to deliver water at a temperature no higher than 120 degrees Fahrenheit/48 degree Celsius.

An easy method to test this is to allow hot water to run for three to five minutes, and then test with a candy, meat or water thermometer. Adjust the water heater and wait a day to let the temperature drop. Re-test and re-adjust as necessary.

Provide constant adult supervision of young children or anyone who may experience difficulty removing themselves from hot water on their own. Gather all necessary supplies before placing a child in the tub, and keep them within easy reach. Fill tub to desired level before getting in. Run cold water first, and then add hot. Turn off the hot water first. This can prevent scalding in case someone should fall in while the tub is filling. Mix the water thoroughly and check the temperature by moving your elbow, wrist or hand with spread fingers through the water before allowing someone to get in.

Install grab bars, shower seats or non-slip flooring in tubs or showers if the person is unsteady or weak. Avoid flushing toilets, running water or using the dish- or clothes washer while anyone is showering.

Install anti-scald or tempering devices. These heat sensitive instruments stop or interrupt the flow of water when the temperature reaches a pre-determined level and prevent hot water that is too hot from coming out of the tap.

Cooking-related scalds are also easy to prevent. Some things you can do to make your home safer from cooking-related burns include: Establish a kid zone out of the traffic path between the stove and sink where children can safely play and still be supervised. Keep young children in high chairs or play yards, a safe distance from counter- or stovetops, hot liquids, hot surfaces or other cooking hazards.

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Harris County Emergency Corps provides tips for preventing scalds