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Seymour staff report rising water losses, aging tanks and planned repairs
Summary
City staff told the council the reverse-osmosis water plant is tracking roughly 30 million gallons lost annually, several tanks and chemical-feed pumps need work, and options for bypassing the raw-water tank remain costly.
John Davis, the city’s reverse osmosis plant supervisor, told the Seymour City Council on June 19 that maintenance needs and unseen leaks are driving large annual water losses.
Davis said the plant’s two finished-water tanks received interior recoating late in 2024 and will likely need exterior recoating within one to two years. He said the raw-water tank will need an interior redo within three to five years and that the plant lacks a permanent bypass for that tank, which “would put us out of water production” if the tank failed.
The urgency centers on what Davis described as “on average 30,000,000 gallons of water lost each year.” He said Seymour sells about 75 million to 85 million gallons annually, so the losses represent a large share of system deliveries. Public works staff told the council the system includes roughly 26 miles of water lines; small, hard-to-find leaks could add up to the total losses.
Davis outlined near-term steps: replacing aging chemical-feed pumps (caustic soda and anti-scale systems), using an acoustic leak sensor borrowed from the Texas Water Development Board to locate otherwise invisible leaks, and evaluating temporary bypass solutions because a permanent bypass would cost nearly as much as a new tank. He also reported six active wells, one additional well to be brought online before year-end, and plans to address inactive wells identified in recent inspections.
City Administrator Doctor Brazier and staff discussed pursuing available grant opportunities from the recent legislative session to help fund pipe and infrastructure replacement.
Davis also reported a monitoring violation tied to lead-and-copper testing earlier in the year because the laboratory did not report results to the state in time; he said the city will repeat sampling this summer and adjust sampling plans to ensure timely reporting.
The council did not take formal action at the meeting; staff described ongoing diagnostic work and recommended continued monitoring, leak detection, incremental pump replacements, and budgeting for tank and pipeline projects.
Davis and city staff said they will return with more detailed cost estimates and grant-application plans as they refine leak-detection results and evaluate bypass and replacement options.
