By Mary Owen
Aumsville’s water is the best tasting in the state, thanks to the city’s new water filtration system installed in January.
“Having good quality water has been one of our goals for quite a long period of time,” Mayor Harold White said. “We’ve been working on water quantity, and it’s going well, but we wanted to work on quality.”
Public Works Director Steve Oslie credited the system designed by 4B Engineering and installed by Cascade Waterworks for being named as Best Tasting Groundwater and Best Drinking Water Overall in Oregon for 2015 by the Oregon Association of Water Utilities at the 37th annual Technical and Management Conference held in March at the Sunriver Resort.
“Had it not been for the filter, there would be no way that we would enter our water in any contest,” said Oslie, who earned Manager of the Year from OAWU.
For years, Oslie said customers complained about the sulfur and chlorine taste and smell.
The city flushed water lines on a weekly basis to removed the tea-colored water caused by hydrogen sulfide reacting with the chlorine.
“Comments like ‘my kid will come out from their bath dirtier than they went in’ are hard to respond to,” Oslie said.
A few pilot studies were done to see if the nuisance taste and odor problems could be removed.
But it wasn’t until the filter system, approved by city council last year, came online that Aumsville’s water improved, Oslie said.
“It took a couple of weeks to get it through the entire city,” he said. “Even with our award-winning water, there will still be areas in town that might see some problems.”
From the beginning, Oslie said, “I’ve wanted to get people off the bottle.”
Today, most Aumsville residents are forgoing buying bottle water and returning to the tap, he added.
“Filtering our water has made a difference in the way people feel about the city and those who work here,” he said.
“I shouldn’t, but I do, take negative comments about our water personally, so this has taken a little weight off my shoulders. Water is the one thing you don’t want to have to worry about when you turn the tap on.”
Oslie said city staff and city council members are “excited about our great water and awards.”
Water from the city of Aumsville will be entered to represent Oregon in the National Best Water Contest at the annual National Rural Water Association’s Rural Water Rally in Washington, D.C., at the end of this year.
Aumsville City Administrator Maryann Hills said the Aumsville Public Works Department has worked hard to achieve the best tasting water in Oregon award and had to overcome some challenges to achieve such a success.
The award “restores consumer confidence in Aumsville’s water taste and odor that was in jeopardy years ago when we found that we needed to begin chlorination of the city’s well water,” Hills said.
Hills said residents weren’t used to having any chlorine residuals in the ground water from the wells.
Hills is already looking forward to Aumsville participating in the national competition.
“Wouldn’t it be great if Aumsville, Oregon won the national water contest!” Hills said.
“We all know that Oregon is not only gorgeous green, it is a high quality life in enjoying the simple things, including drinking refreshing water. Aumsville is truly a great place to live,” she added.
Hills commended Oslie and his crew for their hard work.
“Steve deserves the Manager of the Year award for his can-do attitude, perseverance and diligence to the many public service responsibilities he carries,” Hills said.
Hills said Oslie leads his public work team to “wow us,” whether it is their master craftsmanship in building the dream conference table for the city hall that the budget could not afford to buy; or putting the puzzle of the shipped water park features together into a fantastic splash park, that is not only fun-filled for the kids, but a beautification renovation to this neighborhood park.
“And now taking what was in the past referred to by our rate payers as buying bad fruit from a fruit stand to buying the best quality of water in Oregon,” Hills said.
Hill credits Oslie for his 25 years as a valued member of the city’s management team.
“His sense of humor gets us through the hard days and adds to the joy of our successes,” she said enthusiastically.
Oslie said it feels awkward to receive the state award when there are many people who deserve the recognition more than he believes he does.
“However, I feel like I can hold my head up a little higher now,” he said.
Oslie said he loves coming to work each day, and will probably add a few more years to serving the city of Aumsville.
“My wife says my retirement party will be held the same day as my funeral,” he said.
“I like working with all the people who take pride in their work, and it shows with great tasting water, groomed parks, and great customer service.”
