Limestone County Water and Sewer Authority’s North Water Plant is one of the largest and most prolific in the county, so the authority is sparing no expense to give what CEO Daryl Williamson says are important upgrades.

The water board approved plans to begin preliminary work on replacing the electrical and filtration systems at the plant, which pumps 3 million gallons of water a day to most of the northern part of the county.

The total cost of the two projects is estimated to be $1.6 million, with the electrical work to cost about $1.1 million and the filtration replacements to cost approximately $500,000.

“It’s a good little spend for us, but what we’re in the business of is to provide clean water,” Williamson said. “These renovations will help us continue do to that.”

LCWSA engineer Alan Lash presented the projects to the board at Thursday’s meeting, with the announcement of the filtration project coming as a surprise to board members, as it was not listed in the capital projects budget in the 2020 fiscal year.

Board member Richard Robinson questioned why the project was being brought before the board if it was not originally budgeted for.

“In essence, what we’re telling you is that what we’re seeing in the performance of the filters, this is something we need to address sooner rather than later,” Williamson told the board. “If we kick this can down the road, we’re going to be in a situation where we’ll have to take a couple filters offline and not have capacity, and this plant runs to capacity every single day.”

“We really need to try and plan ahead and have these as part of the capital budget so we don’t pop up in the middle of the year asking for half a million for different things,” Robinson replied. “Typically this would be part of a capital request.”

Board member Johnny Hatchett said he understood some things are discovered that need to be addressed immediately and can’t always be forecasted and put on the budget.

“I don’t know how you could have predicted this and hit us up in a budget cycle,” Hatchett said. “As you peel an onion back, you find more things inside.”

Williamson said the project would most likely not begin until after the new fiscal year begins in October, so it could be budgeted for the next fiscal year.

Williamson said the six filters at the plant are too old and worn to properly filter the water consistently, which means the filters need to be backwashed constantly to be cleaned. Whenever the filters are backwashed, they are taken offline, which lowers the capacity of the plant. Two of the filters are being backwashed every 15 hours, Lash told the board.

The filters are 126 square feet and contain layers of gravel, anthracite and sand to pull contaminants out of the water.

“As it collects contaminants, it becomes more polished and doesn’t have the rough edges on it,” Williamson said. “It’s been 12 years since we reworked it last time, so it’s just time to do it again.”

Williamson said the process of replacing the contents of the filter is time-consuming and requires lot of manual labor.

“You have to drain the water out, take a vacuum truck and suck out the sane, anthracite and gravel, and even get in there and scoop out the remaining gravel by hand,” he said. “There is also an underdrain system where the water flows out to go into the system, and we’re going to rebuild those as well. They’ll put in different layers and sizes of gravel, layers of anthracite and gravel on top. It will take about two weeks per filter.”

Following some discussion, the board decided to approve the project 4-0 with John Farrar abstaining from voting.

The electrical work was much more straightforward, and was unanimously approved.

Lash told the board the electrical system at the North Plant is from the early 90s and is stored in the same room with the filters.

“Humidity and heavy doses of chlorine don’t mix well with copper wire,” Williamson said. “And just like a 30-year-old car is harder to find parts for, so are electrical panels. We are also installing a new pump, and the current switch gear won’t handle the load the new pump is going to require.”

Consulting firm Engineers of the South is helping the LCWSA with the project and will solicit bids to bring before the board at a later date.

Williamson said it will most likely be after the start of the new fiscal year before the design is completed and the project is bid.