By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
City Recorder Tim Auvil, on behalf of Mayor Bruce Kolsun and the Parsons City Council, outlined a number of improvements to the water system of the City of Parsons. According to Auvil, it has taken the City over 30 years to recover from the flood of 1985. “It’s taken over three decades for our town to overcome the devastating flood of 1985,” Auvil said.
According to Auvil, underbid monies from the two most recent water system improvement projects were used to install emergency generators. The purpose of the generators, according to Auvil, is to insure that the City does not lose access to water during extended power outages from storms or other unforeseen events. The two most recent water projects have also replaced 75% of the city’s century old water lines, many of which were leaking, according to Auvil. “We installed emergency generators and updated telemetry at our raw water intake and water plant which allows us to continue water production in the event of a power outage, such as during Super Storm Sandy and the Derecho, each resulting in a week long power loss, without a water supply interruption.”
All the water lines in the Waynewood Addition were replaced along with extension and replacement of water lines in the Fork Mountain area and the entirety of Quality Hill’s lines being replaced, according to Auvil. The line replacements, Auvil said, provided the area with not only an ample supply of water, but also the volume of water needed for the area’s fire protection. A separate $50,000 project was included to replace the filtration at the water plant, according to Auvil. “We replaced the filtration media at the water plant, that was a $50K project,” Auvil said.
Auvil said the City’s water accountability has increased from 52% to 87% due to the improvement projects and the elimination of water leaks in the replacement areas. These improvements have also decreased water production time by half, according to Auvil. “Meaning 35% was not leaching into the ground due to leaky antiquated lines, decreasing daily production time by half and giving the city an additional day and a half of supply, even if the generators failed,” Auvil said.
According to Auvil, the improvements have supplied the City with adequate fire protection, as well as accurate mapping of all the water lines. “These improvements cannot be kicked down the road any longer,” Auvil said. “Most of the lines replaced were of antiquated material no longer used in any water system today, thus giving our city, not only a more sufficient supply of volume, but a more efficient, long term, cleaner, dependable water supply.”
The projects have replaced the old four inch water main lines with six inch main lines, according to Auvil. The increase in diameter is designed to accommodate modern fire fighting equipment needs, Auvil said. “By replacing four inch water main lines with six inch water main lines, we will be able to provide the necessary volume current fire protection equipment requires,” Auvil said.
Auvil also outlined a recent event with an outdated line that broke the July 4th weekend of 2022. According to Auvil, a eight inch main line on Route 219 broke at the bottom of Quality Hill that resulted in half of the town losing water. Auvil said that the mapping of the area’s lines had been destroyed in the 1985 flood resulting in repair crews not knowing what types of components or lines were needed for repair of the intersection. “It was one of the worst water line breaks this city has ever experienced, all due to a cast iron ‘Cross’ specifically manufactured for that location 100 years ago,” Auvil said. “It conducted three different size main lines, and a replacement was no longer available.”
Auvil credited the efforts of various City Departments with the restoration efforts following the main line break. Auvil credited the combined effort of the Parsons Volunteer Fire Department, Water, Public Works, Parks, Police and City Administration as well as Chief Operator of Hamrick PSD, Chief Water/Sewer Operator John “Red” Lipscomp and Jason Myers with providing assistance to enact the repairs. According to Auvil, if not for the combined effort of those involved, water would have been out for days, if not weeks. “Working until 2 a.m., our city workers restored water service and reopened both lanes of Route 219. Some worked for 18 hours straight.,” Auvil said. “I’ve never been so proud of such a group of people. It was all hands on deck.”
According to Auvil, Myers provided much needed and hard to find components during the holiday weekend crisis. “If not for Mr. Jason Myers assistance, having access to provide and the ability to bill costs of the needed components to Parsons to make the repairs, that our city did not have on hand, and personally delivered, repairs would not have been possible.”
Auvil said that despite the crews efforts, there were still individuals who were upset by the closure of one lane of Route 219 during the repairs. “We still had people yelling and cursing at us as they drove by for closing a lane of Route 219 on a holiday weekend, to make the repair, like we had a choice,” Auvil said.“ALL your city workers came through, knowing the urgency of the situation on a Holiday weekend,” Auvil said. “They deserve your thanks and appreciation.”
According to Auvil, there is still a remaining 25% of the City lines that are slated for replacement. The bottom of Quality Hill that experienced the main break is included in the upcoming improvement project, according to Auvil.
Other completed improvements included the addition of an early detection system for the raw water supply upstream from the intake. According to Auvil, the system was funded by grant monies and designed to alert the City of any contamination to the raw water supply. “Contingencies will soon be in place if that occurs by connecting our water distribution system to the Hamrick PSD’s water distribution system,” Auvil said.
The Hamrick PSD emergency connection system is designed so either can service the other in case of contamination emergency, according to Auvil, and will continue water supply to half of Tucker County. The project is currently under construction, Auvil said, and was funded through grant funding. The grant was applied for over the last seven years, according to Auvil, and finally approved due to a $50,000 allocation from the William Mahan Harman Memorial Fund. The allocation funded engineering two years ago and showed that the City was persistent to resolve the contingency, according to Auvil. “And had ‘skin in the game’ with which made it possible to be allocated a $676K grant, making our City one of the very few with an alternate water source,” Auvil said. “This project will be completed within the next 90 to 120 days, weather permitting.”
The City has also updated components at the water plant and raw water intake and has also provided back up components at the sites, according to Auvil. “We now have back up components for our water plant and raw intake that would prevent production in the event of an equipment failure,” Auvil said. “We’ve made additional improvements to the structures at the water department’s treatment facilities including lighting, heating, upgrades to the chemical supply entrances, decks, roofing, computers, software, improvements to the water tanks (internal and external), and many other operational and smaller upgrades too numerous to list.”
Auvil said he is proud of the work of the Water Department and the City has been awarded several accolades for the projects. According to Auvil, more improvement projects are currently being undertaken. “Be proud of the Parsons Water Treatment System,” Auvil said, “that has been awarded many accolades for its performance and it’s superior quality water production.”
