OKTIBBEHA COUNTY — Habitat for Humanity is building as many as 30 houses in its subdivision on 16th Section Road, but some of the substantially completed structures may sit uninhabitable for another two years due to lack of water connections.
Completion of those houses, plus additional development in the area, could be halted for years as the organization tasked with providing water faces growing pains.
Six months ago, Clayton Village Water Association was ordered by the Bureau of Public Water Supply, a division of the Department of Health, to halt new connections because the system is over capacity.
In July, the association’s board received a letter from the bureau that said CVWA has the water supply to serve 3,080 connections but has 3,334 connections. Despite being overloaded by 8%, the water supply for existing water customers is safe, CVWA director Willette McClain said.
“We just want our customers to know, the members of Clayton Village, that there’s nothing wrong with their water,” she said. “That’s No. 1. The moratorium is for the growth of this association.”
Lifting the moratorium is going to take time — at least a year, maybe two — but the association is working through it, McClain said Thursday.
The association has grown from serving 200 customers in 1966 to providing water to nearly 5,000 people and has almost 2,200 meters tied to its system.
The affected area includes Rockhill Road to the north, Sand Creek Road to the south, East Lee Boulevard to the west and the Highway 128 and 82 overpass to the east. Almost a dozen of the Habitat homes have water service and are inhabited, McClain said.
The bureau said in its letter that an overload of connections can cause low pressure during high-water usage periods, like during the summer months. That can cause sewage to be siphoned back into the water system, putting the water supply at risk of contamination.
It ordered the association to cease adding new customers and begin the process of increasing water supply to the system. The bureau also said that CVWA should report any customers given previous water connection commitments so the bureau could consider authorizing service.
For now, no new meters are allowed to be hooked up to the system.
McClain said the association has complied with the order and the water system has not been affected.
“We just want the public to know that we’re not sitting here twiddling our thumbs,” McClain said. “This is important for us and we’re going to get this lifted as soon as possible.”
The association has applied for funding from both federal and state sources to build a new 200,000-gallon elevated tank on East Lee Boulevard that will cost more than $2 million. She said the plans are still under development and construction has not yet begun.
New customer options
Clayton Village Water Association has exclusive authority to provide water to the customers in its service territory via a certificate provided by the Mississippi Public Service Commission.
That includes its territory in the area the city of Starkville annexed in 2022.
However, if a new customer in the service area is unable to access water from CVWA due to the moratorium or another issue, they have options, Ross Hammons, the PSC’s general counsel, told The Dispatch.
He compared Clayton Village’s issue to one faced a few years ago with Northeast Itawamba Water Association. He said it was also over capacity and unable to serve new customers, so the PSC provided support.
“We were able to not force them, but get them into a place to go tie-in and get another source of water,” Hammons said. He said PSC-certificated utilities have an obligation to serve customers in their service area. “Normally, (a customer) can just call the commission and do what they call an informal complaint. From that point, we can work and reach out to the utility and see what’s going on. … There might be a neighboring utility there that’s got a well in place that isn’t at capacity. Certainly, rather than Clayton Village drilling a well, they may be able to tie in with a neighboring utility and get wholesale water from them to allow (Clayton) to serve their customers.”
That’s where Starkville Utilities could render aid.
Mayor Lynn Spruill told The Dispatch the city provides water to those in and out of city limits, noting that the city absorbed both Old West Point Road Water Association and Bluefield Water Association in prior years.
“I think there’s a possibility of us working with (CVWA) to help that region grow,” she said. “I’m just not sure what form that would take. Obviously, we are interested in the growth and development in that area.”
Kevin Edwards is news editor and reports on Starkville and Oktibbeha County government.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 51 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.