STARKVILLE — Starkville Utilities is gearing up for an evaluation of its water and wastewater system that could shape the future of utilities in the city for the next two decades.
Edward Kemp, general manager for Starkville Utilities, said the evaluations will help modernize the city’s water systems.
Kemp said the evaluations will be paid for by December’s water and sewer rate increase.
“We’re not doing this because there’s anything not working or not functioning now, but we’re trying to be proactive and prepare for the future,” Kemp said. “We want to have a really solid game plan in how we invest our capital dollars into these … aspects of our utility organization to better serve our customers in the long run.”
Starkville Utilities selected Neel-Schaffer as the preferred vendor for the water system evaluation and Garver for the wastewater evaluation. The initial phase of the water evaluation will take four to six months to complete, while the wastewater portion will take up to 10 months.
In a press release on Tuesday, Starkville Utilities said the evaluation results will be used to identify equipment, facilities and technologies to be upgraded and replaced.
Vendors were selected through a request for qualifications process, Kemp said, and negotiations are ongoing to nail down the exact costs for their services. He estimated the evaluations would cost between $200,000 and $300,000 total. Work should begin within 30 days, once negotiations are complete, he said.
Kemp said his main goal for the comprehensive evaluation of Starkville Utilities is to have the company’s water and wastewater processes, facilities and capacity assessed for future needs. He also said the evaluations could help modernize aging facilities.
“A lot of these facilities were built many, many years ago,” Kemp told The Dispatch. “A lot of the technologies have changed as far as the best processes and treatment processes, so I really wanted to have an expert come in and evaluate our processes and see if there are any improvements we can make.”
The release said the evaluations will also be used to estimate costs for proposed future projects and to find federal grant programs to cover capital improvements.
In December, aldermen adjusted the water and sewer rates, approving an individual base rate adjustment from $4.50 to $6 for water and sewer and a variable rate adjustment of $4.15 to $4.50 per 1,000 gallons of water. This adjustment was anticipated to generate more than $1 million annually.
Kemp said these new rates went into effect in February of this year. Part of the additional revenue generated by these new rates will be applied to the water and wastewater evaluations.
Starkville Utilities currently serves 14,000 individual customers, including residents, businesses and industries in the city, as well as Mississippi State University. Kemp said this number has grown over time as the city has grown.
“We’re not looking to expand our boundaries,” Kemp said. “Those are set by the public services commission. But there is quite a bit of growth that’s occurring within the city and those utility boundaries, both historically and more recently, but also continuing into the near future. Preparing for what that looks like long-term is definitely … part of the equation.”
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