Athens City staff: smoke testing and pipe repairs cut wet‑weather flow and find no utility-owned lead service lines
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Summary
City staff told the council the city’s smoke‑testing and repairs have reduced inflow and infiltration into the wastewater system, easing strain on the treatment plant, and that the city’s EPA‑required lead service line inventory found no utility‑owned lead lines but identified 509 private galvanized lines.
City staff updated the Athens City Council on the city’s wastewater collection smoke‑testing program and the EPA‑mandated lead service line inventory, saying the work has reduced peak wet‑weather flows and improved treatment‑plant operations.
A city water services staff member identified in the meeting as Dave said the treatment plant’s average dry‑weather flow is about 4.5 million gallons per day and that during significant rain events the system has surged to more than 20 million gallons per day. He credited inflow and infiltration — rainwater and groundwater entering the system through defects in pipes and manholes — for the increases and described the city’s detection and repair work.
Dave said the city started a smoke‑testing program in 2023 and has logged more than 1,600 defects on a mapping dashboard. He said crews have completed roughly 55% of remediation work, “about 880 defects,” and the city has installed 12 sewer flow monitors that cover roughly 72% of the system to track results.
Why it matters: reducing I&I (inflow and infiltration) lowers the risk of sanitary sewer overflows, shortens equipment run times at the wastewater treatment plant and helps keep the city within state and federal permit limits, staff said.
City staff presented comparative basin data from identical wet‑weather events in 2023 and 2024. Staff reported up to an 82% reduction in surcharge levels (the measured pipe surcharge during storms), up to a 25% decrease in velocity in some basins, and an overall 27% reduction in measured flow for the compared events. In one basin (identified in the presentation as Basin 1505), an ARPA‑funded repair effort produced about a 31% decrease in flows, staff said.
On lead service lines, the presenter said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency required utilities to inventory service line materials beginning in 2021 and set an inventory submission deadline of Oct. 16 of the prior year. The city’s inventory was submitted on Sept. 19, the presenter said. According to that inventory, the utility found zero lead service lines on the utility‑owned portions of the system. The inventory did identify 509 privately owned galvanized service lines; the city said it has mailed the property owners notifications consistent with EPA guidance and is tracking outreach in the public dashboard.
The presenter said dashboards and maps showing defects, repairs and the lead‑service‑line inventory are available on the Water Department page of the City of Athens website.
Council questions and next steps: councilmembers briefly thanked staff and asked about future monitoring and repair plans; staff said monitoring will continue and that crews will prioritize additional repairs where the dashboards and monitors show the greatest wet‑weather impact. Staff also said addressing I&I helps the plant recover more quickly after storms and reduces maintenance needs for equipment.
Ending: staff said they will continue to report progress to the council and to keep the publicly accessible dashboards updated.
