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Truesdale upgrading water map tech

By Adam Rollins, Record Staff Writer
Posted 11/7/19

The city of Truesdale is bringing in new technology to map its local water and sewer systems. A digital map of every valve, meter, hydrant, water main and other infrastructure will be created by …

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Truesdale upgrading water map tech

Posted
By Adam Rollins, Record Staff Writer
The city of Truesdale is bringing in new technology to map its local water and sewer systems.A digital map of every valve, meter, hydrant, water main and other infrastructure will be created by Missouri Rural Water Association (MRWA) under an agreement approved by Truesdale aldermen in February. City staff will be able to use the map with GPS-enabled mobile devices to locate different elements in the field.Officials said they began considering the technology after a tornado devastated Joplin in 2011, leaving crews struggling to locate infrastructure in a vastly altered cityscape.“All your reference points were gone. You can’t say ‘the brick house on the corner,’ because the brick house on the corner was gone,” Truesdale Public Works Director Gilbert Nordwald said.Other times soil erosion or construction work can bury ground-level valves and position markers, making them difficult to locate, he said.The digital map will use various location symbols for every piece of the system and color code water lines by size. Once complete, the map can be updated with any future infrastructure projects.The positioning system will be accurate to within about a foot, Nordwald said.Truesdale currently uses physical maps to track the location of water and sewer systems.Nordwald said he has worked for Truesdale for 16 years, and knows where much of the city’s infrastructure is because he was there to see it put in. But he won’t be around forever.“(When) the new guy comes in, then he has something he can look at and figure out the system. ... If we hire somebody new, then they can study that and learn more about what they’re looking for,” Nordwald said.Truesdale has about 360 meters of water infrastructure serving 325 account holders, Nordwald said. It will take three to four days to map the whole system. The city will pay per diem expenses for the MRWA representative who comes to create the map, including hotel and mileage.The estimated cost of the project is $7,000, with another $1,500 estimated cost to purchase accompanying computer software, according to the city’s agreement with MRWA. The cost will increase if the project takes longer than expected.To make the task go as smoothly as possible, Nordwald said he and a part-time employee will locate and mark as many system elements as possible beforehand. The project will possibly start in July, with prework being done in May, he said.

Truesdale City Hall

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