Hello all,

The group meeting was held at Perrigo Park in Redmond on August 18th.  Those in attendance were Brian Gumke from Northshore Utility District, Tim Cantwell and Delynn Erickson from Woodinville Water District, Dennis McLaughlin Group Treasurer, Mick Holte from City of Renton, Jason Moe Batman Testing, Jeff Kobylk City of Edmonds, Linda McMurphy City of Edmonds (retired), Debbie Crooks City of Kent, Tony Peredo Washington Water Service, Carla Snyder Coal Creek Utility District, Wednesday Smith Batgirl Backflow, Scott Hemingway WETRC, Gabriel Olivas WSDOT/Phoenix Land, Dominic McLaughlin SPU/WCS, Dale Baxmann SPU/WETRC, Bob Eastwood SPU (retired) and Kathy Caldwell City of Redmond.

The weather was perfect for the meeting, nice blue sky and 70 degrees.  Chair Mick Holte opened the meeting and introductions were given.

Brian has talked a bit in previous meetings about a Northshore designed hydrant meter protection system.  They have built boxes around the meter and RP, they are equipped with the radio read system as well as GPS.  They have the smaller meter setup that can adapt to a hydrant or a meter setter and a 3” design for larger usage such as a job site.  He gave a nice presentation and answered questions.   They are pictured below.  Thanks Brian!

We discussed a bit more about the virtual October seminar and the Group has purchased a ZOOM package that will support up to 300 attendees.  Scott has agreed to be the orchestrator and will have support and assistance from Kathy, Wednesday, Mick, Brian and Jeff and anyone else he needs.  There will be much more information coming to you on the horizon.

I would also like to give applause to Dennis and Jeff for planning and purchasing the food for the picnic.  Jeff did an awesome job on the barbecue, serving up yummy chicken and hotdogs.  Thanks, you guys.  Everyone enjoyed lunch!

HOSE BIB TIMER WITH UNDERGROUND IRRIGATION

Tim brought a photo of this problem that I bet you’ve all seen:  The faucet is in the on position and the timer is set to turn on the irrigation.  The timer is acting as a downstream valve.

An AVB is a non-testable device and cannot be under continuous pressure, as the poppet would likely stick and the AVB would no longer function properly.  Shut off or control valves should never be placed downstream, as this could result in continuous pressure (12 hours or more) on the AVB.  This is common problem in mop sinks.  I’ve attached a brochure regarding mop sinks courtesy of Wednesday Smith.  (I know it is one of her greater pet peeves)

The next meeting will be at 10:00 on September 15th.  It will be virtual on Zoom.  We will talk about Cross Connection Surveys and any new business anyone wants to add.  I will send out an invite to all soon.

Thanks Brian for a really good display and great ideas!