Some Demorest water customers may see a water rate increase sooner rather than later. The recent dry weather has caused concerns for the city’s water department due to a significant increase in water consumption.
City Manager Mark Musselwhite explained the situation to the Demorest City Council during its regular meeting Tuesday evening. He told the council that during the last two weeks, with all of the dry weather, the city has consumed a lot of water.
“Our water usage has been over the top,” Musselwhite told the council. “A time or two, we have pushed our two million gallons a day from Baldwin.”
He expressed that, fortunately, Baldwin’s usage was such that they could accommodate Demorest’s additional demand.
Musselwhite told the council, “We had water tanks that levels could not be sustained,” causing concern for the water department.
He explained that typically, in the past, the city used approximately 250,000 gallons per day from Toccoa. Out of 7,200 water accounts, about 2,900 use specifically Toccoa water only. The average amount has significantly increased over the last few weeks to between 600,000 and 800,000 gallons daily. The city has an agreement with Toccoa to purchase up to one million gallons of water per day.
Demorest purchases water from Toccoa and Baldwin. It also has wells that augment its water supply to its nearly 7,200 customers.
Demorest pays Toccoa approximately $3.39 per 1,000 gallons of water, while the city pays Baldwin $2.49 for the same amount of water.
The Toccoa water zone
The additional water costs have caused Musselwhite concerns about the budget. Due to these additional costs, the city is considering creating a Toccoa zone for those 2,900 accounts.
“We’ve got to let water pay for water. We cannot subsidize costs. One costs more than the other,” he told the council.
Musselwhite explained that he and the staff don’t take this lightly. The staff is now working to identify those accounts that receive water from Toccoa. He explained that this was being closely monitored over the next week and that it was not something that needed to be debated at this time. Staff and engineers are working to gather information to bring forward to the council.
Musselwhite added that this will be discussed further in the future because the city will not be billed for the water it is getting from Toccoa today until next month.
Other water business
In an effort to improve the city’s water production, the council approved moving forward with pump testing its Garrison Road well. When in use, the well provides about 250,000 gallons of water per day. However, it has been several years since the well has been tested to know exactly how much water it can produce in a day.
The council awarded Mechanical Pumping Electrical (MPE) Services the contract to pump test the well. The city will pay $10,000 for the 72-hour test.
In an effort to provide water more efficiently throughout its water distribution system, the council also approved moving forward with a water distribution and water storage hydraulic model and system evaluation. This analysis will identify current and future strengths and weaknesses throughout the system. It will provide possible solutions to any deficiencies that become known during the analysis process, Musselwhite explained.
The process of building the model will take nine steps. Engineers will map the existing water system and infrastructure in its entirety. The city has approximately 307 miles of water lines in its system.
They will conduct a flow and pressure test through the system and construct a computer model that mimics the existing water system. Engineers will analyze water pressure during average and peak demand cycles and analyze the system for fire flow. Once completed, the model will reveal deficiencies in the water system, and engineers will make recommendations based on the results.
Engineering Management Inc.(EMI) will perform the hydraulic modeling and system evaluation at a cost of $73,000. The project will take several months to complete.
