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Consultants tell Fountain Green council spring monitoring, SCADA and lagoon expansion needed
Summary
Consultants presented completed water and wastewater master plans, recommending spring-flow metering, SCADA upgrades, planning for additional wastewater lagoon capacity and monitoring to address seepage and peak flows.
Consultants presented Fountain Green’s new water and wastewater master plans on Feb. 20, telling the City Council the town’s water rights and springs look strong but that improved monitoring and system upgrades are needed to manage growth and protect resources.
The consultant said the town’s 2023 equivalent residential connections (ERCs) were about 554 and projected to grow to roughly 672 by 2045 under the study’s baseline growth assumptions. The report recommended metering spring overflow, upgrading chlorine storage and cylinders, improving SCADA to record well level and tank levels continuously, and adding more permanent chlorine storage as demand grows.
Why it matters: the presentation separated legal water right capacity from safe-yield limits tied to measured spring and well production. The consultant warned the state’s “safe-yield” ratings – used to set permitted system capacity – will be driven by measured flows; without metering overflow from the spring, the town may be undercounting available source water.
Key technical recommendations and findings included: meter the spring overflow (a meter could cost in the low thousands) and record it year to year; upgrade SCADA to include well level and lagoon influent flow so staff can see hourly trends; and increase chlorine cylinder capacity and storage as routine operations scale with growth. The consultant reported the well pump test showed a pump capacity around 300 gallons per minute with a safe yield estimated at roughly 283 gpm, and that using both spring plus well safe-yield produces an ERC capacity in the high 600s (678 ERCs by their safe-yield calculation) compared with the water-right theoretical capacity of about 797 ERCs.
On wastewater, consultants said the lagoon system is functionally operating but raised two urgent concerns: the measured influent and nutrient (BOD) loads are high relative to permitted seepage and treatment-area limits, and the lagoons appear to be accepting about 2.5 times the seepage rate that the state’s guidance allows. The report recommended adding monitoring wells/perimeter monitoring, installing a mechanical screen at the influent to reduce trash and sludge accumulation, automating lagoon influent flow measurement (15‑minute intervals), and planning for additional primary cell acreage or rehabilitation. The consultant estimated a range of costs for solutions: a conservative planning/rehab project figure offered in the presentation was about $4 million, with a larger lagoon expansion or worst-case scenario up to about $6–10 million depending on land and construction options; the consultant cautioned these were rough planning numbers to include in impact-fee calculations and grant requests.
Council, staff and the consultant discussed enforcement and monitoring steps: recording overflow from the spring box will help the state and town document actual source production; mechanical screening and upstream flow meters would allow more reliable operation of lagoon screens and protect against garbage/floatables that would otherwise increase sludge disposal costs; and composite sampling of lagoon influent (hourly samplers) was recommended to better estimate daily loading and BOD for design comparisons.
Quotes from the meeting (attributed): “You are extremely lucky here in Fountain Green to have the big springs,” the consultant said, urging monitoring of the overflow. City water operator Kurt Lund confirmed the town currently records tank and culinary meter data but not overflow.
Next steps identified: meter spring overflow, budget SCADA improvements to add well and influent monitoring, schedule mechanical-screen options for the wastewater influent, and evaluate land- or rehabilitation-based alternatives for additional lagoon capacity. The consultant offered to deliver the full master-plan report and GIS files to staff for follow-up and for developers to use when engineering subdivisions.
Ending: City staff and council instructed the consultant to finalize the master-plan documents, to provide more detailed cost worksheets for the lagoon rehabilitation and expansion alternatives, and to bring proposals for SCADA and metering work so the council can consider inclusion in upcoming budgets and grant applications.
