Zweckverband plans new buildings for the Wiechs and Hohe Flum / Heier Sommer tanks causing higher pumping costs.
(gn). The costs and investments for the procurement of drinking water in the catchment area of the Dinkelberg were the focus of the household advice at the water supply association. With the planned new buildings for the Wiechs and Hohe Flum water tanks, the association has two big projects ahead of its chest.
In the current year, the planning costs for the new construction of the Wiech water reservoir will be 50,000 euros. 100,000 euros are estimated for the renewal of the telecontrol technology in the Herzenau pumping station. In the business plan for the current year, new borrowings of 72,000 euros are planned. The repayment of loans is already the third-highest item in the business plan with 45,000 euros.
The dry, hot summer is also reflected in overspending. The pump hours for pumping the groundwater up to the high tanks cost 30,000 euros more than originally planned. To make matters worse, the process control technology in the Herzenau pumping station failed this year and has to be repaired.
But the water supply association in Dinkelberg also wants to continue investing in order to secure supplies for the citizens in the catchment area in the future. So in the medium term the Hochbehlter Wiechs will have to be renewed. The planning costs for this new building alone are estimated at 250,000 euros next year. An emergency power supply in the Herzenau pumping station is expected to cost 100,000 euros. The association’s entire asset plan for next year amounts to 477,000 euros.
“The depreciations to be achieved in the amount of 117,300 euros are not sufficient to finance the expenditure,” said the association’s commercial director, Arno Asal, at the meeting. “A loan of 330,600 euros is planned for the coming year.” With the planned repayment of existing liabilities in the amount of 50,000 euros, the residual debt of the Zweckverband will amount to a good million euros by the end of the year. Asal announced that the required investments will increase the operating cost allocation for the participating municipalities in two years.
Further new buildings are already firmly planned to ensure the water supply. The association wants to rebuild the Hohe Flum water tank in 2022 and 2023, a project that is currently estimated at 3.3 million euros. In 2022, a partial amount of 1.5 million euros in construction costs will be required for this. “This measure will be financed through grants and credits,” says the business plan. The water abstraction fee of the affiliated members was increased to 10 cents per cubic meter last year.
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