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Washington County to repair Roper water interconnections after grant
Summary
County officials said a recently obtained grant will allow repairs to three water interconnections and broken meters in Roper; engineers will trial fixes and officials pledged to guard residents — many elderly — from bill spikes.
County and town officials said Wednesday that a county grant will fund repairs to three water interconnections and to meters serving Roper, a step officials said is intended to protect service reliability without saddling residents with higher bills.
"The connections are working but the meters are broken; they are not working the way they were initially designed," said Curtis Potter, County Manager and County Attorney. Potter said, "The County did get a grant to fix those 3 connections," and that engineers will run a trial to determine the best technical solution.
Lee Sasser, Public Utilities Director, told the joint meeting of the Washington County Board of Commissioners and the Roper Town Council that the interconnections currently allow water to flow in only one direction. With the new meters, "the County can open those lines if one of the other lines/meters has a problem," he said, describing how upgraded equipment would provide operational flexibility.
Mayor Denise Blount urged caution about costs for town residents, many of whom she described as elderly. Potter said the county will monitor billing impacts as it implements fixes to avoid unexpected increases for customers.
Officials did not provide a timeline for the engineering trial or for completing meter replacements; the county said staff will follow up with next steps and technical recommendations.
