BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — Todd Adams, the new division manager for Alliance Water Resources, presented his inaugural monthly report at the June meeting of the Martin County Water District board.
Financials
Adams submitted a list of $252,198 in bills for payment, including $19,133 listed as “pump rental,” service and diesel. Board member Nina McCoy inquired about the duration of the pump rental for the raw water intake.
“I don’t want to give it a date because we keep having hiccups with the raw river pump,” Adams explained. “I can give an update on that when we get to the capital report, but we’re hoping it will be gone very soon. Everything is on-site.”
Chairman Jimmy Don Kerr confirmed this, adding, “I visited the site recently, and the railing is installed. It looks good.”
Kerr asked, “Has that fence always been there?”
Alliance employee J.D. Damron responded that the fence had been in place for a long time.
Operations
Discussing the water treatment plant, Adams mentioned that a new rake chain for clarifier No. 2 arrived slightly short, so the old chain was reinstalled temporarily. Additionally, the sludge valve on clarifier No. 2 was repaired.
Adams mentioned the district’s improved service to the federal prison, now pumping water seven hours a day.
“That’s a big accomplishment from when I got here,” he noted. “We could barely keep up. We’re pumping about 140 gallons per minute more to the prison than before. We found a big leak in that area and made the repair. We’re seeing a bigger impact on the tank gainage.”
Water loss improvement
Water loss decreased from 73.83% the previous month to 68.47%. The district produced and purchased 47,963,000 gallons, sold 14,542,000 gallons, used 583,000 gallons and lost 32,838,000 gallons.
“I’m hoping that number will drop even more,” said Adams. “Like I said, we found that big leak going to the prison, and these guys have fixed a lot of leaks over the last few weeks.”
Capital improvement projects
Adams updated the board on ongoing capital improvement projects, including the raw water intake and treatment plant projects initiated in October 2021.
“We have some good news,” he stated. “We got the trailer in and got the pump mounted to it. Everything looked good.” However, concerns arose with the cable used to lower and raise the pump.
“Once they started using it and started to go over the hill, the column holding the wench started wobbling a little bit,” Adams explained. “So the contractor got a little iffy and didn’t want to move it until they got something from the engineer. I’ve been in contact with Bell [Engineering] twice today. The structural engineer is saying they think it is good, but they’re still going to run some models on it to verify it. He was hoping to have that for me by today’s meeting, but he didn’t. I’m hoping I’ll get an answer tomorrow. After that, the only thing is to lower it over the hill, set it, and start running it. That’s the last hurdle that we have to accomplish.”
Adams plans to keep the rental pump on-site until the new system is confirmed operational.
“Ideally, this time next month, we’ll be rid of that pump.”
McCoy noted the long-term rental costs, suggesting a purchase might have been more economical.
In 2018, the district bought two new pumps for $470,386, but they have had limited use. The smaller pump was flooded in early 2021, and the larger pump was damaged upon delivery and has never worked.
Former Alliance VP Tony Sneed reported in May that the district was spending an average of $35,000 monthly on rental and diesel for the pump. Operating expenses increased by $286,000 in 2023, causing a 14% budget overspend. Sneed advised that a rate increase would not be necessary in 2024 if the raw water intake project is completed and the rental pump expense is eliminated.
For other projects, Adams reported that equipment for the telemetry project on Route 292 had arrived, with work set to begin within two weeks. The Otto Brown project is pending submission by Bell Engineering to the Division of Water for approval. He anticipated that would happen within 30 days, followed by bid solicitations.
Adams also noted progress on the Turkey tank rehab and countywide meter replacement projects, saying the district had received authorization from the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority to proceed.
“We’ve done everything on our end to get those moving,” added Adams.