Citizens of south Granville County NC- Working Together For SGWASA Progress

Let's start a few years ago. In 2017, the engineering company, Hazen and Sawyer, studied the state of the structure and functioning of the SGWASA water and sewer plants. Their Report is entitled: DBP Reduction and SCADA Improvements at the SGWASA Water Treatment Plant and the final report was December 2017.

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The total project cost for the recommended improvements as of July 2019 is approximately 12.5 million and the final evaluation of this project cost from H&S is not done. It certainly will get close to 15 million with cost overruns, etc. Their own fee is now about 1million. The final cost estimate should be coming in soon and then bid requests will go out to construction companies.

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The December 2017 study is a bit scary and ominous. See it here.

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The first study by H&S produced reports on what it has discovered. The fundamental objective of their project was to assess the treatment process, and the existing automation and control systems, and develop recommended modifications to enhance DBP control. DBPs are disinfectant byproduct contaminants in our water that can have dangerous health effects.

 

The problems they have discovered are numerous and indicate old water plants that have been neglected. The drinking water plant does not have modern automated control equipment, many of the mechanical devices such as pumps and values need replacing, new buildings are needed and staff need better training, etc. 

 

It is a startling report and their financial estimate to get just the water plant up to minimal performance is 3.3 million dollars and 8.3 million for both! That's the bad news. But, finally, we have some honesty by an independent group that this plant is a shabby, world war II, disgrace and is unreliable. It is highly unlikely it will ever give us the water we deserve until it is brought up to some decent mechanical and operational standards. Whether that is actually possible, is also debatable in the sense of what can actually be done with an 80 year old contraption.

 

The transfer of these water and sewage plants, from the Federal Government and then to the state and local authorities, was apparently some sort of mysterious handover, ridden with inadequate financial arrangements for updating the plants. In other words, years ago, Southern Granville was handed water plants already in bad shape with no funding for modernization. The State of NC must have felt relieved to have deceived us into accepting these decrepit plants with no financial resources to upgrade and modernize them.

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Below are indented paragraphs in quotes from the study. They are startling summary paragraphs from the Report regarding the water treatment plant (WTP):

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"The SGWASA WTP was constructed in the 1940’s and operated by the State of North Carolina until formation of SGWASA in 2006. The WTP is an aging facility (nearly 80 years old) and is in need of rehabilitation and upgrades to ensure sustainable and reliable performance. Whereas assessing the condition of the entire WTP is not within the scope of this project, it is recommended that SGWASA develop a master plan to determine needed improvements to enhance condition and improve treatment facilities to current industry standards. Many systems at this facility appear to have reached the end of their service life and in need of replacement or major rehabilitation."

 

"The WTP lacks process monitoring and control systems that meet current industry standards. WTP operations staff operate the facility in a completely manual mode. This presents several challenges for operating the treatment process optimally to maintain high level of water quality and ensure compliance with all regulatory standards, particularly with a conventional treatment process. Over the last year, the DBP levels in the WTP have been very high, exceeding the MCL (Maximum Contaminant Level) within the treatment process. HAA5 levels in the filter effluent have been extremely high."

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"Hazen staff visited the plant on two occasions (September 6 and November 1, 2017) to review existing operations and assess existing instrumentation, monitoring, and control features. At the time, the plant’s SCADA workstation was not functional. The plant’s existing instrumentation and controls also are largely not functional. Certain field instruments are not operational, and others provide suspect readings. Plant staff has performed with minimal instrumentation and automation, largely operating the plant and its processes manually."
 

"SCADA SYSTEM:

 

A SCADA SYSTEM is a Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition system of software and hardware elements that allows industrial organizations to:

-Control industrial processes locally or at remote locations

-Monitor, gather, and process real-time data

-Directly interact with devices such as sensors, valves, pumps, motors, and more through human-machine interface (HMI) software

-Record events into a log file" 

 

"The plant SCADA system consists of a single PC that, as noted, was not operational. The HMI software is not known at this time. Each of the filter consoles is equipped with an Koyo Direct Logic PLC. Although inexpensive, these PLCs are not widely used in the water industry. The automatic filter backwash strategies are not operating, and operators must backwash the filters manually, a task that requires a number of trips up and down the stairs between the filter gallery and the pipe gallery below. Chlorine feed is adjusted manually using rotameters and needle valves. All other chemical feeds are also manually adjusted. Solids withdrawal from the sedimentation basins is also manually performed."

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So now, we are stuck with a contraption of questionable use and function. Sound exaggerated? Many of us do not think so. One needs to ask: "Who is historically responsible for this horrid handover of old plants and who now needs to be involved in helping us get these plants up to speed." Another giant question for another page on this site is: "Are these water and sewage plants adequate in size and structure to be able to provide service to further development in southern Granville County?" Consider that the plants have been in legal existence for thirteen years with the same Executive Director and Lawyer in place from the beginning; therefore isn't  the description of the plant problems above difficult to understand? Many people think so.

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Remember, the County created SGWASA and we have Federal institutions like prisons and veteran centers in this county which receive SGWASA water. There is state involvement with our sewage treated water running into Falls Lake. Hence there are federal, state and county responsibilities and interests for up-grading the SGWASA water and sewage plants.

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We have not even mentioned that there is no long-term management plan in place for these water and sewer plants! The administrators are engineers, financial people or lawyers. Something is missing from this picture. And we think it is long-term planning. Who is responsible for that in an organization like SGWASA. You will see below who legally has the total responsibility of the functioning, planning, the hiring of Executives and the success or failure of this enterprise. 

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But we will mention that in May 2017 the current Executive Director of SGWASA told a Butner resident in an email that (and we quote):

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"When you apply for a grant, you must have a specific project and by that I mean a very defined action:  Build/replace a water line, build/repair equipment or tanks or basins – the grants are usually for studying an issue or to build a “structure”.  At this point in time, SGWASA does not have a specific “Structure” that needs to be built or repaired to control the manganese nor the Dis-infection By-products (THM and HAA)." 

 

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Don't you find it peculiar that the engineer report states the plant is 80 years old and falling apart but the ED says it needs no re-building or repairing? We do.

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The SGWASA Board, by all laws we can find, is totally responsible for the functioning of the water and sewer plants and for providing clean water to its customers --- water meeting all safety standards. There is at least on agency in the state and country that could step in and "take over" SGWASA, but the SGWASA Board has the first line of responsibility and control. The Board Members are listed at the bottom of this page. 

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Here is an excerpt from the SGWASA Board Bylaws describing some Board powers:

 

"The Board shall: Determine SGWASA’s policies; Direct the employees of SGWASA, if any, in carrying out SGWASA’s policies; Provide adequate oversight and control of SGWASA’s finances and expenditures; Conduct periodic reviews and revisions, as necessary, of SGWASA’s policies, procedures and operations; Engage in all other functions required or permitted by law including, but not limited to, those powers set forth in Article 1, Chapter 162A of the North Carolina General Statutes. The members may select and retain competent management for SGWASA or may contract with independent contractors or consultants to satisfy staffing needs and may do all other things allowed by North Carolina General Statutes necessary for the administration of SGWASA.”

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So pay close attention to the members of the SGWASA Board. They must be elected city commissioners appointed by the town or county. See the current Board Member list with contact information at the bottom of this page. 

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So what does funding this expensive project look like? The Butner-Creedmoor News (February 22, 2018) states the estimated cost of this current repair plan will be 8.3 million and that these funds are available in a SGWASA Capital Improvement Fund. Spending the 8.3 million will reduce that fund from about 12 million to 4 million. Is four  million a good reserve for this company? Is that a dangerous reserve and will it need to be replenished by raising customer fee rates? What if some pipes were to start destructing in the distribution system? That is likely due to their old age! Would anyone lend money to SGWASA with their current high debt of 43 million? What does this unstable situation mean for us here in southern Granville?

 

The SGWASA $54 million debt (as of 6/6/18) includes $500,000 paid each year for 20 years to the Town of Butner, apparently for the land and utility structure given over to the town when SGWASA was formed. That payment will be 10 million dollars and is your money; we give this  as an example of your  money being thrown around relative to the original historic disaster of the formation of SGWASA. We still live with the pain of that horrid "hand over," the scheming and underhanded passing of a piece of WWII junk to us. See more detail of this at the SGWASA web site. 

 

As of February 13, 2018, the SGWASA Board approved $946,000 for Hazen and Sawyer Engineers to now proceed with the design and bidding for the recommended improvements at the plants reported in their structure and functioning report. That is stated to take most of 2018! Then the construction project to try to improve the plants. How many years for that? Will the existing plants and what appears to be inadequate management of them, keep contaminants out of our water during this construction. How many years before we can feel confident about SGWASA? That they are legitimate? See the UPDATES on the home page; things are happening so fact we cannot keep up with them on this page. 

 

Some of us see the physically dilapidated structure of the plants and the out of touch and weak management and planning, as huge impediments for ever having a properly functioning water authority in southern Granville. Pessimistic? Yes.

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In January of 2018, the Executive Director of SGWASA, Mr. Lindsay Mize, was discussing the financial fees paid to SGWASA by its customer and wrote this mysterious statement - in bold text,  exactly as shown below:

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"PLEASE NOTE: THE SGWASA CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PLAN IS BASED ON THE PROJECTED PRICES OF MAINTAINING THE CURRENT SGWASA SYSTEM. THERE IS NO PROJECTED COST TO EXPAND ANY PORTION OF THE WATER OR SEWER SYSTEM’S CAPACITY TO SERVE. THEREFORE THESE FEES AND RATES ARE NOT DESIGNED TO ADD CAPACITY FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT."
 

That sounds ominous to many of us relative to the future of SGWASA and growth in southern Granville.

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AND WE HAVE NOT EVEN STARTED TALKING  ABOUT THE SGWASA OLD DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM, THE PIPES DISTRIBUTING THE WATER TO THE CUSTOMERS! Some of those pipes have been in the ground for a very, very long time and their status can be said to be unknown and no doubt related to many reports of bad odors of water and black gooey substances (manganese etc.?) seen in, and building up in plumbing, sinks, bathtubs, etc. 

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Below are more excerpts from the Engineering Report regarding recommendations. We've left out the graphs which are worth viewing.

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 Again, here is the link to the final report. See note in red on the front page of that report  and highlighted areas in the document. 

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RECOMMENDATIONS IN REPORT

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I: General Goals: Ensure continued DBP compliance, automated monitoring and control is critical. (DBP = disinfectant byproducts, the major contaminant problem in SGWASA water at this time)

• Provide a basic level of process control.
• Flow and level through the plant.
• Chemical feed systems are flow paced.
• Solids removal is automated.
• Upgrade and enhance instrumentation to provide real-time data to operators.
 

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Disinfectant Byproducts

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II: Recommendations for Disinfectant Byproducts compliance: 7 (recommendations mostly type of chemicals to use, using them at different places, maintaining pH at certain levels, assessment of the condition of the sedimentation basins)

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1. Potential Factors Affecting DBP formation and creating variance from bench testing 

2. Water Treatment Plant is manually controlled so there could be variability in flow (per filter), chemical doses, etc. that affect chlorine contact time   and WTP performance     

3. Operations staff - learning curve of operating with ferric sulfate coagulation.Maintaining proper sludge levels in the sedimentation basins has been challenging due to failing draining valves and sludge collection equipment

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Chemical System Changes

 

III: Chemical System changes needed

• KMnO4 Recommendations: 3

• Powdered Activated Carbon (PAC) Recommendations: 3 (including upgrading systems, relocating applications, replacing 6 mechanical devices)

• Coagulant-Aid Polymer Recommendations: 2 (including replacing an existing chemical feed system)

• Anhydrous Ammonia Recommendations: 2 (including new automatic controls)

• Sodium Hydroxide Recommendations: 5 (including new 10,000-gallon tank, a new 700-gallon tank and two new pumps, relocate pumps to new building and add new pump, separate feed lines, provide new softening system)

• Ferric Sulfate Recommendations: 4 (new 14,000-gallon tank and two new pumps; new 500-gallon tank in new building; new 50 gph pump)

• Ferric Sulfate and Caustic Containment Area: 2 (construct new containment area to separate chemicals, new caustic bulk tank)

• A new chemical feed building is recommended to house day tanks and metering pumps for ferric, caustic, and hypochlorite.

• Sodium Hypochlorite Recommendations: 5 (New bulk tank, new 1,800-gallon tank and metering pumps in the new chemical feed building, relocate metering pumps, two new pumps for post-filter)

 

The total project cost for the recommended improvements as of July 2019 approximately approximately 10.5 million and the final evaluation of this project cost from H&S is not done. Their own fee is now about 1million. 

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