By: Jennifer Britt
The Parsons Advocate
The West Virginia Bureau of Public Health in conjunction with the Office of Environmental Engineering Division has awarded Hamrick Public Service Department water treatment plant with the Gold Award based upon meeting treatment turbidity of 1.0 percent NTU for settled water and 0.10 percent for filtered water 95 percent of the time. The award was presented to Jason Lipscomb.
Turbidity is described as the opaqueness of a fluid due to the presence of suspended solids and is measured in terms of nephelometric turbidity units (NTU).
In other Hamrick PSD news:
According to the legal announcement in The Parsons Advocate in March Hamrick PSD filed a Rule 19A application to increase both water and sewer rates. The district provides water service to approximately 774 customers and sewer service to approximately 460 sewer customers in Tucker County, West Virginia. It is a wide area with have 64 miles of water lines that serve those in Hendricks, Hambleton, Bretz, Blackman Flats, Holly Meadows, St. George and Leadmine.
Upon review of the application, staff recommended water rates which would generate an increase of $87,815 annually, or a 19.09% increase over revenue and the Cash Working Capital Reserve (CWCR) under current water rates. Staff recommended sewer rates which would generate an increase of $4,793 annually, or a 2.59% increase over revenue and the CWCR increment under current sewer rates.
Under the staff-recommended water rates. the average monthly residential usage of 2,700 gallons would increase by $7.68, or 19.09%, over current rates; the average monthly commercial usage of 5,000 gallons would increase by $12.24, or 19.09%, over current rates; and the average monthly public authority usage of 17.400 gallons would increase by $35.36, or 19.10%, over current rates.
Under the staff-recommended sewer rates, the average monthly residential usage of 2,700 gallons would increase by $0.59, or 2.07%, over current rates; the average monthly commercial usage of 1.500 gallons would increase by $0.68, or 3.24%, over current rates; and the average monthly public authority usage of 18.800 gallons would increase by $4.14, or 2.07%, over current rates.
Residents had ten days from the time of the publication of the legal ad to send in a protest to the Public Service Commission in Charleston and without any protect or callings for a hearing the Commission will affirm the proposed recommended rates with a hearing.
Lipscomb said, “It was my recommendation to increase the rates slowly over the next couple of years, but the Commission set forth with the current rate increase recommendations.” Because Hamrick PSD is regulated by the Commission, they have to follow their guidelines. The new rates will take effect with the September billings.
The next Hamrick PSD meeting will take place on September 12, 2022, at 4 p.m. and located at the Hamrick PSD office in Hendricks.