Water

Water Leaks

At 60 pounds of pressure, a leak through the following size opening will result in the waste of said amount of water in one quarter's time (3 months)

                                gallons of water wasted

The Village of Oxford owns and maintains the water mains and service lines up to (including) the curb stop. 

The customer is responsible from the curb stop to the building. 

The Village of Oxford owns and repairs the water meters, but it is the customer’s responsibility to keep them from freezing.   You will need to insulate your water pit in the fall to ensure it does not freeze. 

If the water meter freezes and needs repair, the Village will charge the customer for those costs and labor.

If a leak is found

Customer is responsible for maintenance or repair of water services from water curb stop to customer's house.

The property owner owns the water service line from where it connects to the Village water curb stop valve. It is the property owner’s responsibility to pay for all service line repairs. Oxford Utilities is responsible only for the water main and service to the curb stop valve. In an emergency, call Oxford Utilities at 824-3511 to shut off the water service at the curb stop box.

You can look in the center of your water meter and will find a small triangle or a dial, it that is spinning, you are using water. 

High Water Bills

If you feel your water usage is unusually high, this may indicate that you have a leak!  Any leak no matter how small can cause an increase on your water bill.  A toilet that is "sticking" or constantly running can tremendously increase your water usage.   If you do not find any leaks, was your water usage outside higher than usual?

Conserving Water

Water is perhaps the most taken‑for‑granted resource available to us. Local supplies, though plentiful, have over time gradually declined. Here are a few ways to help conserve our dwindling supplies:

Install low‑flow shower and faucet control devices.

Install low‑flow toilets.

Repair any objects that leak inside or outside (faucets, toilet tanks, etc.)

Keep a container of cold drinking water in the refrigerator.

Use your washer and/or dishwasher only with full loads.

Water your lawn during cooler parts of the day so that more water soaks in and less evaporates.

Cross- Connection Control Program

The Village of Oxford is committed to providing customers with safe and reliable drinking water. Protecting the drinking water is everyone’s responsibility. As part of our (City) responsibility we have a cross connection control program. This is an important part of protecting the potable (drinking) water supply from contamination due to cross connections. 

One part of the City’s Cross-Connection Control program is a Cross- Connection Survey That is mailed to all residents every 5 years that requires all to fill out and be returned. Then they are looked at to see if a backflow device is needed. The ones that were not returned will be contacted by phone or by person. If needed or asked to a trained operator will go on site to look for any cross-connections. Another part of the program is an On-going Public Education, were the city informs the public on what and were cross connections happen through hand outs and articles published in the newspaper.  City has also installed hose bibb vacuum breakers on all outside faucets, because it is the most common and over looked cross-connection.

The States definition of a cross connection

NEBRASKA HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES REGULATION AND LICENSURE

 Cross connection means any physical arrangement whereby a potable water supply is connected, directly or indirectly, with any other water supply system, sewer, drain, conduit, tank, pump, plumbing fixture, heat exchanger, or other mechanical equipment or device which contains, or may contain, contaminated water, sewage or other waste, liquid or gas of unknown or unsafe quality which may be capable of imparting contamination or pollution to the potable water supply as a result of backflow (due to either backpressure or backsiphonage). Bypass arrangements, jumper connections, hose connections, removable spools, swivel or changeover devices, four-way valve connections and other temporary or permanent devices through which, or because of which, backflow (or backsiphonage) could occur are considered to be cross-connections. Protecting a public water system against potential contamination from cross-connections is possible by containment and/or isolation.

Some history taken from the "Four Score and Seven Year" Book....

“In some of the minutes that recorded the actions of the Board of Trustees, as well as their discussions , previous to April 23, 1906, there had been discussions relative to asking the property owners to support a bond issue to finance establishment of a water system and bring the blessings of electric power to the municipality.

Immediately following the canvas of the election of votes the Trustees adopted resolutions for the empowerment of the Chairman and Clerk to sign bonds in the amount of $15,000.00 for the establishment of a water system.

For the next two years the Village Clerk recorded many items relative to the construction of the water system and the problems that were encountered by the Trustees and their solutions.

In a special meeting of the board of Trustees the contractor turned over to the village of Oxford and by resolution said water system was tested and accepted as constructed by same, dated August 22, 1908.

With completion of the original system of water works the door was opened wide for water extensions for many years to come.

There were 431 water meters in service as of July 1967.  the source of water was from an 8-inch well, by a pump of less than 100 gllons per minute capacity." 

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Today we have approximately 417 water meters in service and have the capability combined from all three wells to pump 20,000 gallons of water per minute.

Oxford pumps an average of 60,000,000 gallons of water a year.  There are close to 56,000 feet of water mains.  The Nitrate levels in well #5 and #6 are at 6.25 mg/l, while well # 7 is at 8.35mg/l.  Maximum contaminant level is 10 mg/l.

We routinely tests for over 110 different regulated contaminants and also a few unregulated contaminants to see if they need to be added to the list.  We take monthly samples throughout the system to comply with State Health Standards, and to ensure the best quality water we can supply.

USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) ran a battery of tests on Well #7 as a Principal Aquifer Survey of the High Plains Aquifer in which one of the tests was the age of the water.  The results indicated the water from that well is likely to be less than 63 years old.  (Water entered the groundwater system after 1952)