Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Water System topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Interim water director details multi‑day outage, pledges SCADA upgrades and SOPs
Summary
Charles Coffin, interim director of the Hart County Water and Sewer Authority, told commissioners a July leak on a 12‑inch main and a hard‑to‑find 8‑inch leak prolonged a system outage; he said staff are conducting an after‑action review and pursuing SCADA monitoring and SOPs to detect future leaks faster.
Charles Coffin, interim director of the Hart County Water and Sewer Authority, told the Hart County Board of Commissioners that a large leak on a 12‑inch main on Biersville Highway on the morning of July 11 started a multi‑day outage that was extended by an additional, difficult‑to‑detect 8‑inch break on New Prospect Road.
“I am Charles Coffin, the interim director of the Hart County Water and Sewer Authority,” Coffin said, and described the timeline: crews repaired the first break the same day with contractor Arrowwood Contracting, but trapped air and the unseen New Prospect leak prevented system pressures from stabilizing until crews located and repaired that second break mid‑afternoon the following Wednesday. He said pumping from a wholesale supplier was constrained because Livonia’s transfer pump initially was inoperable; once repaired the system pumped roughly 580 gallons per minute instead of the 130 gallons per minute gravity flow that had been available.
Coffin told commissioners the authority will undertake a formal after‑action review guided by EMI to identify technical and communication improvements. He singled out SCADA (remote supervisory control and data acquisition) additions and better leak‑detection sensors as priorities to improve early detection and operator visibility: “Adding SCADA components that will help staff ID and pinpoint leaks in the future will be especially helpful.”
Commissioners pressed Coffin about the absence of documented standard operating procedures (SOPs) and deferred maintenance items—Coffin acknowledged the authority had not located SOPs at the time of the outage and said the authority would develop them quickly. He also told the board that air‑release valves are insufficient in some locations and that some valves are buried or unmarked, slowing emergency operations; he asked EMI and engineers to inventory and recommend improvements.
Commissioner concerns extended to capital planning and budgeting: one commissioner pointed out a previously authorized $4.6 million water‑expansion allocation and asked whether the county should prioritize system resilience before further expansion. Coffin said staff will provide a more comprehensive update to the board and that EMI is expected to report back next month.
