The Warren County Utility District working on a strategy to improve the Spencer Water Department’s facilities once the acquisition becomes official.
The system will change hands once the two sides ratify the agreement and the state approves it. Warren County Utility District President Glenn Mitchell said key staffers have been visiting Spencer regularly to find the areas with the greatest need. He said the first big project will be to pump water from the Caney Fork River directly to the treatment plant, bypassing the lake where the plant currently gets its water supply.
“So, you’ll have a little bit fresher water to begin with to treat on the front end,” Mitchell said. “And there are going to be some improvements made to the treatment plant itself. And then we’re going to make some improvements out into the system too.”
Mitchell said a draft of the agreement will be presented to the Warren County Utility Board at the March meeting. He said he hopes to have the deal finalized as soon as possible.
He said once the state signs off, Warren County Utility District will take control of all assets of Spencer Water, and all of their employees will become employees of Warren County Utility District.
“We’re giving them recommendations to help them with right now, but we can’t actually go up there and take over their system,” Mitchell said. “We’re not going to put all of our human resources and our time and effort into that until we get this agreement finished.”
He said as soon as possible, new meters will be installed in Spencer that have leak-detection capabilities. He said they will need to identify where the system’s water loss is happening as soon as possible, as it has plagued Spencer for years.
“Water loss has been an issue,” Mitchell. “They’ve exceeded the water loss requirements for several years now with state regulation and we’ll be trying to find where the leaks are.”
Much of this work will be funded by a $9.5 million ARP grant that the utility district will receive upon signing the agreement. Mitchell said even when the agreement is finalized, there will be further details to iron out like deeds to property and adjusted schedules to create cohesion as the services merge.
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