A recent groundbreaking ceremony at the city’s water treatment facility is a tangible indication that all the t’s have been crossed and the I’s dotted to set in motion an expansion project that will, once completed, double the facility’s output to as much as 20 million gallons of water a day.
This is good news for the current 55,000 customers who rely on the Kerr Lake Regional Water System, but Water Resources Director Christy Lipscomb said increased capacity also will allow for growth.
Lipscomb was a guest on Wednesday’s TownTalk and explained just what the almost $80 million expansion project would involve and when it is expected to be completed.
“I am very excited,” Lipscomb said. “This will give us more tools in our toolbox to treat the water and some of the things that show up in the water.
As water testing improves, the EPA and the state set forth regulations that water systems must comply with. “We have to meet (the regulations) and know that it’s going to be safe for the customers,” she said.
The existing system is what Lipscomb calls a “conventional” system, and the plan is to add on to the current building to add a super pulsator system – or Super P, for short.
“It’s like the conventional system, but it runs more efficiently and effectively,” she said of the Super P.
And while there presently no problems with contaminants in the water, having this newer style of system with activated carbon will help if problems arise in the future.
If all goes according to plan, the project will take between 20 months and 30 months to complete, but it will allow for up to 20 million gallons of water a day to be treated and returned to customers for use.
The City of Henderson is the managing partner of the regional water system and has a 60 percent ownership; the city of Oxford and Warren County each have a 20 percent ownership.
Right now, Lipscomb the different entities aren’t using all the water that is allocated to them on paper, which helps the system stay ahead of the game.
On an average day, the water plant treats 7.1 million gallons. When that capacity more than doubles, it could be a game-changer for the area.
Once there is more capacity, customers like Henderson, Oxford and Warren County can use that as a drawing card for economic development.
The plan is to use the Super P as the main treatment source, but keep the conventional system as a backup, just in case. And then, later, a second Super P would be installed and the conventional system would be decommissioned, Lipscomb said.
She said customers shouldn’t see any disruptions in service or changes in water quality because of the expansion.
“They shouldn’t experience anything disruptive,” she said, adding that the city would send out notices if something were to occur that would affect water customers.
