SUD Considers Project to Recycle Wastewater

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the July 8 meeting of the Board of Commissioners of the Sewanee Utility District of Franklin and Marion Counties, the board discussed SUD’s role and the utility’s priorities in a pilot wetlands for recycling wastewater, a project being undertaken jointly by the University of the South and the University of Georgia. The board also reviewed the audit by Bean, Rhoton and Kelley, PLLC, and discussed water theft as a possible source of water loss.

During the 2012–13 academic year, University of the South students collaborated with student researchers from the University of Georgia to conduct a feasibility study for a pilot wetlands to recycle wastewater. The universities recently received a grant to construct a pilot wetlands in one of SUD’s wastewater treatment spray fields.

SUD Board Chair Cliff Huffman expressed concern that the grant proposal did not address reclaiming the area following completion of the project and did not address SUD’s concern with aesthetics and the appearance of the wetland’s site. SUD Commissioner Ken Smith suggested SUD should perhaps receive some income from the grant since SUD Manager Ben Beavers would be involved in coordinating the project.

Beavers said SUD’s requirements for the project would need to be clearly stated in the proposal that goes out for bids. Scott Torreano, University of the South professor of forestry and geology, will interface with contractors and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC). TDEC has approved the pilot. SUD will request a letter of agreement from TDEC to protect SUD from liability for any violations in TDEC regulations.

The recycled water will be discharged into the SUD lagoons, not into SUD’s drinking water supply lakes. Beavers said the initial plan was to make the pilot “scaleable,” a design that could be expanded from the experimental stage to actual implementation, another important consideration in the final bid proposal. Beavers will attend the meeting set for July 18 at the University of the South to discuss implementation of the wetlands project.

Beavers said the audit conducted by Bean, Rhoton and Kelley, PLLC, found only two minor issues. Some customer tax-exempt certificates were not up-to-date; to rectify the situation, SUD sent a letter to all tax-exempt customers asking them to verify their tax-exempt status. SUD was also cited for one instance of failing to make a bank deposit within the three-day required period during a holiday when the deposit did not post until the next business day. SUD now makes deposits daily.

In discussing the audit, Beavers said he used the national average of 2.5 percent for “unauthorized consumption,” treated water stolen from hydrants or other sources. Beavers acknowledges that  unauthorized consumption might be a factor in SUD’s high unaccounted-for water loss, the difference between water treated at the plant and water registered as sold on customer meters, currently 26 percent. Beavers said in the past he apprehended a paving company taking water from a hydrant, as well as several other offenders. SUD has no way of knowing a theft is occurring unless someone contacts the utility. To secure all SUD’s hydrants would cost $400,000. Likewise, the cost of prosecuting offenders would beprohibitive, Beavers said.

In the financial report, Beavers cited a slight downward trend in water and sewer sales. The board discussed the possibility of the decrease in sales necessitating a rate increase in the future.

The next meeting of the SUD board is scheduled for August 26.