Engineering firm will map city utilities
September 08, 2012 · Jen Rothmeyer
Veenstra & Kimm, the engineering firm the City of Lisbon contracts with, won a bid for up to $15,000 to provide GIS mapping of the water and sewer systems. The council unanimously approved the project last week.
Travis Bagby, the city's water and wastewater superintendent, said that he and Tony Nost, the city's streets superintendent, had gone through all of the city maps and big sections of the city were missing or incorrect. He gave the example that Grant Circle is not on any maps and that in the Truman Street area, the maps will show a water main in a certain location, but it's actually on the other side of the street. He said that some of the maps are for what was planned and not what was built.
Bagby said the maps weren't budgeted for this fiscal year, but "we can endure the cost." He indicated that he would be putting off some other purchases in order to fit in the GIS mapping. "This is more important than some of the other stuff I have budgeted," he said.
He went on to say, "The DNR wants the most recent and up to date water and sewer mapping that you can have, so if there ever is an operator change, the next guy can come right in and maintain business as usual."
Bagby said Veenstra & Kimm will "physically touch every valve in town, every hydrant in town. They give us the GPS coordinates. They pop the manholes and give us the size and which direction it flows." Then, he said, the company will put all the information into the AutoCAD program so that it is easy to update. Bagby said he is trained in AutoCAD and will be able to maintain the system. |
