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The Limestone County Water & Sewer Authority on Thursday voted to hire an engineering firm to help prepare assessments required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The board voted unanimously to spend no more than $56,430 to Info Design Group LLC for a risk and resilience assessment and emergency response plan. Daryl Williamson, chief executive officer of the utility, said Inflo was chosen because they are one of a few firms with a thorough knowledge of the LCWSA operation.

“Most water systems are outsourcing this to an engineering firm unless they have a deep bench internally,” he told the board. “Since (Inflo) has a good understanding of our system, we chose those guys to do this work. … It’s a heavy lift.”

The risk and resilience assessment is due no later than Dec. 31. The second part, the emergency response plan, is due six months later.

The assessment is designed to determine:

• The risk to the system from malevolent acts and natural hazards;

• The resilience of the pipes and constructed conveyances, physical barriers, source water, water collection and intake, pretreatment, treatment, storage and distribution facilities, electronic, computer, or other automated systems (including the security of such systems) which are utilized by the system;

• The monitoring practices of the system;

• The financial infrastructure of the system;

• The use, storage or handling of various chemicals by the system; and

• The operation and maintenance of the system.

Required information as part of the emergency response plan includes:

• Strategies and resources to improve the resilience of the system, including the physical security and cybersecurity of the system;

• Plans and procedures that can be implemented, and identification of equipment that can be utilized, in the event of a malevolent act or natural hazard that threatens the ability of the community water system to deliver safe drinking water;

• Actions, procedures and equipment which can obviate or significantly lessen the impact of a malevolent act or natural hazard on the public health and the safety and supply of drinking water provided to communities and individuals, including the development of alternative source water options, relocation of water intakes and construction of flood protection barriers; and

• Strategies that can be used to aid in the detection of malevolent acts or natural hazards that threaten the security or resilience of the system.

Williamson said the reports were required as part of the EPA’s 2018 America’s Water Infrastructure Act. He said all community water providers with more than 3,300 customers are required to perform the assessment and develop an emergency plan. Once the reports are submitted, the plans are reviewed every five years.

Project updates

Elsewhere Thursday, LCWSA engineer Alan Lash provided the board members with updates on several projects, including the relocation of water lines on Huntsville-Browns Ferry Road near the Interstate 65 interchange at Tanner. Utilities are being moved to accommodate a planned widening of Huntsville-Brownsferry Road to accommodate anticipated traffic from the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing U.S.A. plant, set to open in spring 2021.

Lash told board members the relocations were on track, but the Alabama Department of Transportation is accelerating the project schedule in hopes of letting a bid on the project in July.