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Little Rock notebook

Utility: In-housevalve work better

A recent pilot study showed that in-house valve inspection using Central Arkansas Water employees is cheaper than outsourcing the work, Distribution Director Darrel Boggs said Thursday.

Boggs told the Central Arkansas Water Commission that parallel three-week pilot programs, which compared the utility's two-person team to two workers from another company, showed that the in-house team was more productive and cost just one-third of what the outside company cost.

The utility's team inspected 1,214 valves during the pilot at a cost of $13,766.55. Wachs Water Services inspected 874 pipes in the same time frame at a cost of $39,999.

"We feel very confident" in the study results and employee work, Boggs said. He recommended that the utility continue with its in-house efforts.

The declining economy in 2006 prompted the utility to put off the inspections for several years, Boggs said. The utility just recently restarted valve inspections in May 2013.

Boggs said the utility will now inspect the majority of its 31,285 valves once every three years.

Also at Thursday's meeting, commissioners were told that pipe rehabilitation work along North University Avenue is complete.

A section of pipe along that street from South Country Club Boulevard to Cantrell Road had broken three times in the past four years. The neighborhood is a high service area, and that segment of pipe had been problematic, officials said.

The utility hired a construction company to use a cure-it-in-place treatment method to place coating along the inside of the 16-inch cast-iron pipe segment. Officials said they don't expect another break for many years to come. The project cost $642,785.

Yoga on the Riverflows into August

Yoga on the River has been extended into August.

There are three weekends left of the free morning yoga classes sponsored by the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau.

This Saturday, July 26 and Aug. 9, instructor Jo Ann Camps will meet people at 8 a.m. at the First Security Amphitheater stage in the River Market for a vinyasa flow yoga class.

The class is for all fitness levels.

"It will give beginners and athletes alike the ability to increase cardio, strength and spirit," a news release said.

All ages are welcome.

Donations to Our House homeless shelter will be accepted but are voluntary, according to the news release.

3 Lives blood drivecalls on minorities

Remington College is asking members of minority groups to donate blood at its forthcoming blood drive.

The blood drive, scheduled for July 30 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the college's Little Rock campus, is called 3 Lives and is a national effort to recruit donors from minority groups and supply local hospitals. The name comes from the fact that one pint of donated blood can save as many as three lives.

Black donors provide blood with antigens that are vital for people with sickle cell disease, according to the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America. That disease affects more than 70,000 people in the United States, according to the association.

While minority-group donors are the focus of the drive, everyone at least 17 years old and 110 pounds is encouraged to donate.

Metro on 07/13/2014

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