At the most recent meeting of the Mount Zion PSD, the engineer we work with regularly on water system issues presented a preliminary analysis of the technical feasibility of a southerly expansion of our system. This step, and it is only an early step, towards such a project was the result of questions, discussions, and effort on the part of several people.
For my part, since shortly after I was appointed to the PSD board last year, I found myself confused by the location of the southern end of our system. It runs to the Upper West Fork Park, where it was needed to provide water to the Fire Department. That it was not continued a mile further into Chloe seemed strange. Stranger still was finding out that there had been funding for a bulk fill station near the Upper West Fork Park but it had never been constructed because the land needed for it could not be secured. I began asking questions about what would be required for a modest extension of one to one and one-half miles into Chloe, where we would be more likely to secure a property for a bulk fill station.
On the part of my fellow PSD board member, Anita West, she filled me in on the background of the indefinitely stalled bulk fill station project and suggested possible extensions up Walker and Walnut Run Roads. Both those roads have dense groupings of potential customers and iron water.
On the part of Commissioner Arthur, he had already been in discussions with important figures in Charleston regarding an expansion of the Mount Zion PSD system five and one-half miles to the county line. On the part of Eric Lupardis, who is currently running for the other county commission seat being voted on in the next election, he made me aware of Commissioner Arthur’s efforts and the interest in Charleston in seeing this project completed.
And the interest is quite warranted! With contamination incidents over the last decade, including the major ones on the Ohio River recently and on the Kanawha River a decade ago, there’s quite a bit of interest in improving the resilience of water systems in this state. All three water systems in this county draw from a single plant in Grantsville that draws from a single source, the Little Kanawha River.
The Clay PSD recently secured funding to extend their system to the county line. If we meet them there, it creates the possibility of moving water between their system and the three systems in this county, both of which are currently islands with a single point of failure in the form of a single treatment plant drawing water from a single river.
Such a connection would be an emergency measure. Neither treatment plant has the capacity to fully supply the normal needs of both systems. In an emergency, with water restriction measures, it would greatly extend how long we could stretch our limited storage capacity.
I spoke with our engineer, asking him to look into the technical feasibility of such an expansion and whether our system would be capable of moving water in either direction on an emergency basis. He assured me that, with small modifications, we would be quite capable of moving water from Grantsville to Clay or vice versa.
He also informed me that the topography of the southern end of the county is unusually agreeable for an extension. Our extant pressure reducing valve at Millstone is at roughly the same elevation, about 910 feet, as the county line and there are no higher points between the two. Additionally, the most populated roads that branch off of that stretch of 16 stay below that elevation for much of their densely populated length. This means that such an expansion can be accomplished without the need for booster stations. Only a tank somewhere along the new stretch or near the end of the old stretch would be needed.
Our system has roughly ten customers per mile currently. Maintaining that average is key to preventing a price increase. Potential customers are greater than that density along 16 to the county line and along many stretches of roads off of that stretch of 16. How far we can go, how far we can get funding to go, will be determined more by who signs up than anything else.
The next steps to bringing water to this part of the county is circulating petitions to determine who wants to be on the system. There was no better time for securing funding for a project like this than last year. Next to then, there is no better time than now.
Soon the PSD and volunteers will be looking for signatures. We already know where it is technically feasible to supply water, soon we will also know where it is economically feasible.
Together we can bring water down the West Fork all the way to the county line. Together we can go up many small roads, following the West Fork’s tributaries. Together we can have a bulk fill station convenient and centrally located for people in the southern end of the county. Together we can bring water to the southern end of the county. Together we can foster the conditions that will let opportunity flourish.
