Amelia County utilities report shows steady water production, flagged infrastructure needs and staffing plan

Amelia County utilities staff reported to the Board of Supervisors that the county ended 2024 with about 485 utility customers and water production roughly equal to 2023.

“The water production was a little over 34,000,000 gallons for the year, about 93,000 gallons per day,” the presenter said, adding that treated wastewater totaled about 39,000,000 gallons — roughly a 2,000,000-gallon increase from 2023.

The presenter told supervisors the jump in wastewater did not stem from the six new customers added in 2024 and said the county had completed an I&I (inflow and infiltration) study that identified and prioritized problem areas. Staff also described recent upgrades at the wastewater treatment plant, including a PLC (plant logic controller) conversion from analog to digital, and installation of groundwater monitoring equipment with about a year of data collected to date.

Among projects listed as coming next, staff said the county expects to start construction of an addition to house sodium hypochlorite tanks for disinfection improvements within about a month, weather permitting. Contractors are scheduled to complete another round of I&I repairs by April, and routine water tank maintenance is scheduled for July 2025.

Staff noted a completed lead and copper service inventory done to meet Office of Drinking Water and EPA requirements and said the county’s system currently does not contain lead service lines because of the relative newness of the system.

The presentation flagged several ongoing challenges: aging wastewater infrastructure (I&I), elevated iron and manganese in the water system with potential multi-stage treatment needs, and long-term sustainability of utility rates. The county’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP) requests include lining manholes and mainlines and other projects prioritized by the I&I study.

On operations, staff said the county maintains about 35 buildings (including a newly added Wells Fargo building), 25 generators at 23 locations, a fleet of 30 vehicles and 30 pieces of equipment, and about 286 acres of property (roughly 40 acres mowed regularly). The utilities group reported 14 full-time employees and three part-time personnel and said the 2025 budget request includes adding one full-time staff member.

Supervisors asked several operational questions during and after the presentation, including timing of tank interior maintenance (the presenter said interior work is on a 15-year schedule and that an interior cleanout/recoat requires taking a tank offline for about a month) and how vehicle replacement priorities are determined (by condition and maintenance history rather than strictly by age). No board action was taken during the presentation; staff said the equipment and personnel requests are included in the department’s budget submittal.

The utilities slides and discussion were presented during the board’s departmental reports portion of the meeting and concluded before the board moved on to parks and recreation, animal control, and other departmental reports.