Several projects being conducted by the Pearl River County Utility Authority are nearly complete.
Additionally, the budget overall appears to be favorable by about $56,000 for the year, said Executive Director Ray Scott, during Thursday’s Board of Trustees meeting.
Scott added that it’s only two months into the current fiscal year. He said that water revenue is coming in $1,000 more than budgeted for the month, but sewer revenue is less than budgeted. He attributes the reduction in sewage revenue to Hide-A-Way Lake and the Millard treatment facility.
The treatment facility in Millard is receiving about half of the sewage usage forecast. Scott said there are only a few facilities that utilize those treatment services; the correction facility, Justice Court and the Department of Human Resources, so the reduction could be due to a lower inmate population.
Rehabilitation of the wastewater system in Picayune is nearing completion. Scott said that of the city’s 90 miles of wastewater collection lines, 21 were rehabilitated. Twenty of those miles were lined; the remaining mile had to be dug up and replaced. Also, several leaks were found in the work through smoke testing. While all leaks found on public property have or will be repaired, Scott said there are 130 repairs needed on private property, just in one of the five basins the Utility Authority is repairing. In a second basin, 37 repairs were found on public property, half of which have been fixed. Operations Director Allan Howe said the system will not receive the ultimate benefit until most if not all of the problems are repaired.
Scott suggested sending letters to affected property owners requesting they fix the problems, not only for the benefit of the wastewater system, but also for public health since some of those issues could lead to sewage collecting in yards.
The wastewater lagoon in the Wildwood subdivision is also nearly complete. Utility Authority Engineer Vernon Moore said the lagoon is operational; the only thing left to complete is the fence. The system is designed to handle output from 100 homes. The subdivision currently has about 80 homes.
Moore said the system is tentatively capable of handling about 400,000 gallons per day, but that could change depending on how the soil performs. He expects it will take about six months to a year to determine what the soil can handle.
In other business, the Board heard about the new supervisory control and data acquisition modules purchased for several pump stations.
Twenty-six of the devices were purchased at a price of $925 per unit, which was less than the previous versions, about $1,300 a piece. Once installed on the lift stations, these units can alert Utility Authority staff to power outages, flow levels, motor amperages and other failures via text message or email.
The next Utility Authority meeting will be Jan. 19 at 2 p.m. in the boardroom at the Neal Road facility in Picayune.