STARKVILLE — About 45% of the city’s produced water is lost in “non-revenue” use per day, according to a Neel-Schaffer evaluation, and Starkville Utilities is investigating where it’s going.
Neel-Schaffer Vice President John Cunningham presented a comprehensive evaluation of the current Starkville Utilities water system and a 20-year plan for that system to the board of aldermen during its Friday work session.
During that report, Cunningham said that about 2.1 million gallons of the city’s daily 4.7 million gallons of water production is not generating revenue. Only about 2.6 million gallons, or 55% of total production, is being sold to customers.
“This is kind of the loss we’re seeing in your system in some form, which may be flushing or it could be some other things, like minute errors, meter accuracy or other minute errors that could occur,” Cunningham said.
Starkville Utilities CEO Edward Kemp explained that these numbers are theoretical and could represent any number of small issues throughout the system. He said he believes the numbers to be accurate, but meter issues could also be affecting those reported losses.
Still, Mayor Lynn Spruill expressed concerns.
“Even if it’s off by 10% and we’re losing 35(%), that’s still a whole lot of loss,” Spruill said.
Spruill asked Cunningham for loss percentages from comparable cities, but he said there isn’t one specific recommended loss percentage.
Instead, Cunningham said, cities in other states set “targets” they hope to hit.
“Some states do 15 or 20%” Cunningham said, when pressed on estimated targets. “… It’s going to be a (matter of)… how much you can get a handle on that going forward.”
Still, Cunningham did not provide an exact target number for Starkville to hit.
After the meeting, Kemp told The Dispatch that the loss could include a variety of explanations, including leakage, flushing, tank overflow, filter backwashes, inaccurate meters, connections that are unaccounted for and more.
“We have already started looking at trying to identify where these sources of losses may occur,” Kemp told The Dispatch. “And the challenging thing is that it’s not just one thing, or two things, or half a dozen things.”
Kemp said reducing water loss will take a long-term, systematic process, which should result in a noticeable decrease by the time the system is studied in about two years.
Still, Kemp said, the non-revenue use could not have been identified without the comprehensive study the board commissioned last year, along with other improvements that can be made to the water system over the next 20 years.
“Understanding exactly where you are and evaluating where you are is the first step in trying to make improvements,” Kemp told The Dispatch.
Five-year plan, 20 year plan
Neel-Schaffer’s evaluation of the city’s water system calls for $10.3 million in upgrades within the next five years, and $47.6 million in upgrades over 20 years, Cunningham said.
Cunningham said the study found the city’s current system is running at 70.7% of design capacity, which still leaves room for some growth.
“The takeaway from here is that your system’s not overloaded,” Cunningham said. “We found that the Department of Health was only counting 2.5 million of your total storage, but you have 3 (million), so that helps.”
But the plan produced by Neel-Schaffer anticipates 24% population growth in the city and 19% population growth in the county over the next 20 years, Cunningham said, raising the population numbers from 25,766 in the city and 51,427 in county in 2022 to 30,227 in the city and 61,606 for the county by 2043.
The upgrades that will come the soonest, Kemp said, will include a new well for the city and new filters for water treatment plants.
Cunningham said the city currently has seven wells, three of which are more than 45 years old.
“That’s not uncommon, but depending on what maintenance has been done on those wells, how much and how often, determines how much you need further investigation into those wells to keep them going,” Cunningham said.
Still, two of the city’s wells on Montgomery Street and Academy are currently running over the MSDH’s standards of 12 hours a day.
Cunningham called for the city to build a new well within the next five years to address the issue for $3.1 million.
Cunningham said the Environmental Protection Agency also released new regulations for six Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs) in April, and water treatment systems will need to be updated within five years to reduce those substances.
Cunningham also recommended that a new water treatment plant be installed to accompany the new well, along with facility rehab projects and improvement projects over the next five years.
The new water treatment plant would cost about $1.9 million, he estimated, while other projects would make up the remaining $5.3 million.
Kemp said the city has already applied for a STAG grant worth about $7 million to cover some of these initial improvements, like the well and treatment plant.
Over the next 20 years, Cunningham said, water system improvements would total at about $47.6 million, with yet another well being installed, another new water treatment plant, a new 500,000 gallon water storage tank, and other general rehab and upgrades.
Kemp called the plan a “road map,” for the water system, but said the plans are subject to change as needs change over time.
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