OKTIBBEHA COUNTY – Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors are evaluating the possibility of creating a countywide utility district for wastewater.
Doing this will allow the county to prepare to serve a growing population with an anticipated influx of 9,000 to 14,000 new residents by 2043, as outlined in the wastewater feasibility study recently conducted by engineer Clyde Pritchard.
Starkville Utilities currently processes 96% of the county’s sewage.
“The current arrangement cannot meet present demand, let alone documented future demand, sustain compliance, or compete effectively for state and federal infrastructure funding,” the study reads.
The study lays out multiple governance structures for countywide wastewater districts but recommends a two-track approach that includes working with Starkville Utilities to service neighborhoods closest to the city limits while also building localized treatment plants to meet need in more rural areas. The top priority will be a new plant serving the east and southeastern county.
Starkville Utilities’ treatment plant processes sewage for the city, Mississippi State University and East Oktibbeha Wastewater District, contributing to an overload of Starkville’s aging treatment plant.
The rest of the county is unincorporated, running on smaller, often septic tank-based systems, which can discourage new development. East Oktibbeha Wastewater District cannot increase its service farther into the county until there is increased sewage processing capacity.
“The city has been plagued with trying to get their sewer system back up to par and all of the sewer we are currently producing is having to be drained or sent to the city to go through their system,” Rob Roberson, board of supervisors attorney, told The Dispatch. “So we’ve been having this conversation long term about what are some of the possibilities that we can do out in the county to have fixing solutions.”
The feasibility study was conducted so the county can develop a way to relieve the Starkville Utility plant and mitigate conflict between existing sewage providers, said Roberson, who presented the study to the board at its July 13 meeting.
East Oktibbeha Wastewater District, created in 2009, services about 30% of the rural portion of the county. Its sewer lines run from Rockhill Road north of Starkville, east along the county line to Robinson Road in the Oktoc community to the south. The district has been trying to undergo a large expansion since 2022, which has been stalled due to capacity issues at the Starkville treatment plant.
East Oktibbeha Wastewater District is currently undergoing a smaller service expansion; however, those sewer lines will not go online until mid-to-late 2027 when the Starkville treatment plant’s increased processing capacity will be available.
Providers in the region have also gotten into conflicts. MSU sued the East Oktibbeha Wastewater District in January 2024 for failure to pay for the use of its wastewater pump, alleging the delinquent payments dated back to 2017 totaling over $500,000. East Oktibbeha uses the wastewater pump before sending sewage to Starkville. The case settled privately following mediation in 2025.
“We’ve been dealing with the sewage, and that’s what precipitates all this,” District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer told The Dispatch. “That’s the headache we got now when you look at those other utilities and those other aspects (because) they’ve got some concerns too. But right now, this is the one that’s kind of in front of us that’s really been kind of a thorn in our side.”
A starting point
While this feasibility study was just for wastewater, the board may have an appetite for a more robust utility district later.
Trainer told The Dispatch that he hopes the proposed district could expand to encompass all utilities including, water and electrical, eventually providing “accessible utilities to every point possible in Oktibbeha County.”
At the July 13 meeting, Roberson said a more expansive district could be discussed later, but the current focus should remain on sewage before the county delves into more complex utilities.
“You eat this up one bite at a time,” Trainer said. “… But at the same time I am thinking about the long-term benefit of having a utility district, and of course, you can go into other places that have them, and you can see the benefits.”
Even if approved, the project is years off from becoming a reality, with a preliminary estimated construction timeline after approval putting a first facility’s completion anywhere between 3 1/2 to 8 1/2 years.
Currently, Roberson and County Administrator Wayne Carpenter are drafting a formal plan to be presented at a future board meeting that will outline the next steps the board should take if it is interested in pursuing a wastewater utility district.
“People need to be patient and allow us to do our due diligence,” Trainer said. “… Just give us the opportunity to study this process to see whether it’s going to be advantageous to the county.”
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