At one point during the sweltering heat and humidity last month, Piedmont Water says its Reynolds Water System came perilously close to not being able to provide water to its customers.
Piedmont Water Chief Operating Officer Brad Hurst told an audience of Reynolds customers at a community meeting on Aug. 1 that, about two weeks earlier, water demand was exceeding the capacity of the new surface water treatment plant.
“We knew there was so much water being driven through the system that we needed to put the wells on,” Hurst said. “At 11:30 at night, they turned on all the wells to replenish the system. Otherwise, folks wouldn’t be able to wake up and take a shower in certain parts of the community.”
Hurst said the wells ran for 30 hours during the demand spike.
The Reynolds water treatment plant went online in September 2022 and replaced 28 wells serving the system. The plant has a potential capacity of processing five million gallons of water per day (MGD) drawn from Lake Oconee but is currently built out and permitted to handle two MGD. Hurst says six of the wells, with a combined 1.2-million-gallon capacity, have remained ready to be used in case of emergency.
The Reynolds system serves customers in Reynolds Lake Oconee properties in Greene County, the Del Webb community, Vintage Club, and other residential and commercial properties, generally from Lake Oconee to St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital.
Hurst says the near crisis was driven by a huge demand for watering lawns and plants. 600 customers have separate irrigation meters, allowing the company to see what is used inside and outside the homes.
“It was driven by irrigation,” he said. “In a four-week period, there was roughly eight million gallons of water use [inside homes]."
In that same period, 48 million gallons of water were used for irrigation, not including commercial use.
He said that an average municipal water system sees a 45-percent increase in residential customer usage from February to July.
“Ours was a 231-percent increase,” he said. “We’ve got some customers on irrigation meters that use 140,000 to 180,000 gallons a month.”
Hurst said the company figures home usage averages about 3,200 gallons a month. Piedmont’s tiered system sets a base rate for 2,000 gallons with a slight increase for usage between 2,000 and 5,000 gallons.
However, this past spring, the company instituted higher “Conservation Rates” for water usage over 5,000 gallons per month.
“If you’re talking about an irrigation amount,” he said, “you’re right, it’s going to be very expensive.”
Hurst admitted the company did a poor job of warning people during the crisis. A robocall was made a day later.
REPAIRING ITS IMAGE?
Piedmont Water is privately owned and serves some 35,000 customers, operating 84 individual water and six wastewater systems in Georgia.
The Georgia Environmental Protection Department dictates water quality standards that the company must meet.
Otherwise, Piedmont Water — like other private systems in the state — is not regulated by any government body. The company determines customer service and repair response times, and rates are determined by contracts negotiated with each individual system.
Over the years, Piedmont Water has been criticized for its rates, the water quality, and virtually all of its services. In the last year or so, the company has upgraded its website with more information and hired a public relations employee. Hurst said they are working to improve customer service and response times.
The Aug. 1 community meeting, eight others held in Greene and Putnam counties in recent weeks, and a meeting held in November is part of an effort to be more transparent.
RATES
Most of the customers who attended the meeting asked about Piedmont Water’s rates. Hurst said rates are reviewed every year and are tied to continuing capital projects to expand the system.
He discussed recent efforts by a group of local customers and State Rep. Trey Rhodes to pass a bill in the state legislature that would regulate private water companies, as is done with electricity. The legislation failed to pass before the end of this year’s session but is expected to be brought up again at the next session.
“We were neutral on the legislation,” Hurst told the group. “We don’t think that more government is the answer.”
He referenced the November meeting when he showed a chart indicating how rates could increase for some systems if the company became regulated. In November, he gave an example of the costs of using 3,500 gallons of water in the Reynolds system.
Hurst said, based on rates at the time, Piedmont could have charged $94.94 if the company was regulated and $79.20 based on its contract with Reynolds Lake Oconee. But, he added, they were charging $60.38 at the time.
EXPANDING COVERAGE
In his 30-minute presentation before more than an hour of questions at the meeting, Hurst covered some of the projects the company is doing and planning, which include:
• Currently increasing the capacity of the Reynolds treatment plant to 3 million gallons per day for $3.32 million.
• Also under construction is a water pipeline along the Richland Connector, which will carry surface water to replace water from wells currently being used by the Walker Springs system in southeast Greene County.
The project, expected to be completed in 60 days, will also provide service to anticipated developments along Richland Connector, two fire stations, and the county’s backup 911 call center. Hurst said Greene County is contributing $2 million to the project’s $4.2 million cost.
• Other plans include running a sewer line from the Walker Springs system to Piedmont Water’s sewage treatment plant on Carey Station Road, which would cost $13.4 million.
• The sewage treatment plant will also be upgraded for $11.1 million.
• Piedmont Water is in the process of constructing a connection to the Eatonton-Putnam Water System. Connecting to the Greensboro Water System is still under consideration.