by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer
At the Sept. 16 meeting of the Board of Commissioners of the Sewanee Utility District of Franklin and Marion Counties, the commissioners expressed concern about the University’s failure to communicate with SUD about proposed expansion and the constructed wetlands research project. The board also discussed remedies for unaccounted water loss.
SUD manager Ben Beavers was recently contacted by a contractor who had technical questions about a new University dormitory. Beavers had received no information from the University about the new dorm. University plans also call for increasing residential density in the downtown area. Looking ahead, Beavers projected University expansion could mean more than 700 new SUD customers: 200 residents, 500 students, and the faculty and staff to support those students. The increase would potentially strain SUD’s capacity for wastewater treatment.
Wastewater treatment capacity again came to the fore when the board discussed the trial constructed wetlands for recycling wastewater, a project being jointly undertaken by the University of the South and University of Georgia. Plans call for locating the trial wetlands at SUD’s wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The WWTP spray-field site that the project committee has proposed would cause SUD to lose 8 percent of its wastewater treatment capacity. Beavers informed the project committee that SUD could not afford to lose capacity, and the trial wetlands could not be located in SUD’s existing wastewater treatment spray fields. SUD has other land available for use, but the project committee has not reviewed or consulted with Beavers about alternate sites.
This past week, the board and Beavers received an invitation to a Sept. 26 ground-breaking ceremony for the constructed wetlands to be held at SUD’s WWTP, yet no suitable site for the project has been agreed upon. SUD Commissioner Ken Smith suggested Beavers notify the University that “at this time SUD has not given final approval for the project to proceed.” Beavers will draft a letter and submit it to the board for approval.
In SUD’s continuing commitment to reduce unaccounted water loss (the difference between water treated at the plant and water registered as sold on customer meters), Beavers presented a graph showing an 8 percent decrease in unaccounted water loss since December 2010. In 2013, unaccounted water loss cost SUD $70,000. SUD’s goal is to reduce its current unaccounted water loss from 22 percent to 17 percent, the industry-standard threshold below which it is not financially practical to locate leaks.
To detect leaks, SUD is in the process of installing zone meters in the various areas of the district. The zone meters coupled with SUD’s new automated meter reading (AMR) technology will identify areas where water is traveling in the middle of the night when use should be low if there are no leaks. Once the general area of a leak is identified, the next step is to determine the exact location of the leak.
“We lack accurate pinpointing equipment,” Beavers said. With the AMR project coming in under budget, Beavers hopes SUD will be able to afford more sophisticated listening equipment to detect water moving underground and locate a leak’s source.
Customer bills now include a reminder to customers to contact SUD any time they suspect a leak. In order to have accurate monthly data on unaccounted water loss, SUD will soon begin reading irrigation meters monthly rather than quarterly.
SUD also plans to schedule hydrant and valve maintenance to detect possible leaks, since the new AMR technology is freeing up SUD employees for other jobs. In one day, a single employee can read 1,000 meters, more than two-thirds of the customers.
The next meeting of the SUD board is Oct. 28.
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