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The Maury Service Authority has put together a draft timeline for proposed projects to update the water system, along with preliminary estimates for each project.
Lexington City Council member Charles Aligood, who represents Council on the MSA board, reported to Council on Feb. 2 that the board was presented with a timeline for the projects, breaking them up into increments of five years for short-term, mid-term and long-term projects. The short-term projects are ones the MSA hopes to complete in the next five years, mid-term projects have a goal of six to 10 years and long-term projects will be done in 10-15 years.
“We have the first plan and now we can start shooting at it,” he said.
The first set of projects, the ones that are slated for the next five years, includes replacing the raw water pump station; replacing the sedimentation basins at the water treatment plant; rehabilitation of the Enfield Remote Clearwell, which stores the water that has been treated at the plant before it is distributed throughout the transmission system; and replacing approximately 3,000 linear feet (.5 miles) of 12-inch asbestos cement water main between the Houston Street tank interconnection to U.S. 60 (Nelson Street).
The raw water pump station replacement is the most expensive project based on the estimates presented, costing $6.3 million. The sedimentation basin replacement is estimated to cost $3.9 million, the transmission line replacement is estimated at $2.4 million and the rehabilitation of the Enfield Remote Clearwell is estimated to cost $1.2 million.
The second phase of projects includes more improvements to the water transmission lines, including replacing 2,000 linear feet (.37 miles) of 20-inch cast iron pipe with 20-inch ductile iron water pipe along Furrs Mill Road, between Greenhouse Road and U.S. 11, as well as an additional 6,500 linear feet (1.2 miles) of pipe along Furrs Mill Road. Further transmission line replacements are anticipated in the long-term project phase, with another 2,200 linear feet (.4 miles) of 20-inch cast iron pipe along Furrs Mill Road needing to be replaced. Those projects are estimated to cost $3.2 million, $5 million and $2.7 million, respectively.
All three phases also include updates to the water treatment plant, including replacing the plant’s hypochlorite tanks (short-term), upgrades to the effluent filters and chemical feed systems (mid-term) and construction of new solids handling facilities (long-term). The total estimated cost for all projects is $32 million, with just under half of that coming in the first phase of the project, which is estimated to cost $15 million. The mid- and longterm projects are estimated to cost a total of $11 million and $6 million, respectively. The draft timeline noted, and Aligood reiterated to Council, that those estimates are “in 2023 dollars” and may change in the coming years as projects move forward and bids are secured.
“We are now moving towards working on the planning and implementing the plans to have systems that are maintainable and sustainable,” MSA Director Jordan Combs told The News-Gazette in an email. “This is not a process that happens overnight. It will take time, commitment, and perseverance. The MSA is committed to sustainably providing clean water for the public health, the safety, and the general welfare of the communities we serve.”
A key part of the planning, he noted, is going to be securing funding to help cover the costs of these projects, though some funding has already been made available to help with that. The MSA has received an offer from the Virginia Department of Health for a low-interest loan of $3 million and Rockbridge County has secured a $3 million Senate appropriations grant to be used for the replacement of the raw water pump station.
To help organize these projects and facilitate funding, Combs said the MSA is planning to advertise requests for proposals for engineering firms to help prepare planning documents and to help the MSA find the funding for the projects going forward.
