Meeting to focus on water issues

The City of Clarendon will hold a Town Hall meeting this month to discuss a proposed $3.9 million water system upgrade that is designed to solve water quality problems and other issues.

The meeting on Tuesday, March 29, will be held at 7 p.m. in the Bairfield Activity Center on the Clarendon College campus, and city leaders will take questions on the need for the improvements, the opportunity for a partial grant, and the debt the city will incur to take on the project.

City officials say residents in some parts of town are suffering from discolored water that is caused by miles of cast iron distribution pipes and poor flow through the system.

The city is also out of compliance with state regulations for elevated storage due to problems with the standpipe (or water tower) on the east side of town. Clarendon could face state fines in the near future if those issues are not addressed.

The city additionally would like to replace all water meters with auto read meters. City officials say the aging meters currently in use are inaccurate due to normal wear and tear, and automated meters would significantly reduce the man-hours needed each month to read more than 700 meters.

“The City Council knew this project was needed for more than two years and has explored funding options,” City Administrator David Dockery said. “The USDA Rural Development Program’s grant/loan option was identified as possibly the best avenue for funding.”

Through the USDA program, Clarendon will receive a grant of $1.387 million and take out a loan in the amount of $2.522 million. The loan would take 40 years to pay off at 2.5 percent interest and with an annual payment of about $100,500.

The loan payment would require additional revenue for the city equal to $10 per month per water connection.

“We understand that we need to work on our streets, but this work needs to be done before any extensive street resurfacing,” Dockery said. “City Council is also concerned about raising rates, but this is the most cost effective and time effect way to do this.”

If the project moves forward, approximately six miles of cast iron distribution pipes would be replaced (the equivalent of about 30 percent of the distribution system), a new standpipe would be constructed on the east side of town, and new auto-read water meters would be installed throughout the city.

The standpipe would cost about $800,000, the water meters would cost about $400,000, and the remainder of the project cost would be for new distribution lines, engineering fees, and other expenses.

“Basically, through the grant/loan we would get the water meters and the standpipe for free and finance the rest of the project,” Dockery said.

Although a lot of time and resources have been spent to get to this point, city officials say they want to know the public’s opinion before they move forward.

“Once City Council feels they have informed the residents and received feedback, final approval will have to be given to USDA before May 1,” Dockery said.

If the city moves forward, the bidding process will be done in less than a year, and then it will take up to three years to complete the entire project.

“We encourage people to ask questions any time,” Dockery said. “We prefer not to wait for the town hall to have questions. Residents can call my office at any time, and their questions will be added to the list of questions to be addressed at the meeting.”

Dockery said the only downside to the project, in his opinion, is the cost and the disruption that the work will cause.

“I see this as being a positive improvement that is absolutely necessary to improve the viability of an aging system,” he said.

For more information about the project, contact Dockery at City Hall at 874-3438.