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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

The Water Works and Sewer Board of the City of Clanton announced an increase in both water and sewer rates on Sept. 11 to combat huge maintenance and repairs to its infrastructure. The city’s water rates will be rising 5% and the sewer rates 10%, which data shows on average will be around $1.82 more per month. The decision to raise the rates was brought on due to a lack of preventative maintenance over the past 50 years, and now there are significant repairs and upgrades that must be addressed immediately.

The board has secured some grant funding and low-interest loans to cover some costs, but more funding is still required. Clanton Mayor Jeff Mims broke down the four separate projects in the water and sewer works in detail with what funding they have for each, how much more they need and the complete background of how these issues grew this large. Completing the four projects would get the city’s water and sewer systems back up to code, eliminate the lost money the city endures and avoid catastrophic consequences.

The previous administration for the City of Clanton did not increase the water and sewer rates since 1976 while they were in office. The only increase that was made was based on what the Consumer Price Index suggested, which was a 1-3% increase each time.

“You cannot make any headway that way, you cannot fix anything and you cannot make any money,” Mims said. “When I took office, we saw all of this stuff that was coming on.”

Mims and the new administration came into office in November 2020, and they hired Stanley Higgins as the city’s Director of Utilities a short time later. Higgins was quickly thrown a load of problems due to that lack of preventative maintenance over the years, and weather events.

Between the tornado that hit near the Coosa River and Hurricane Zeta blowing through Alabama, both events took a toll on the sewer and water works in Clanton. The pumps at the sewer plant are now pumping at about 30-40% power. The city is under the risk of an Environmental Protection Agency Consent Order, which is an agreement between the EPA and a party that resolves a complaint or addresses a specific issue, at the sewer treatment plant due to the sanitary sewer overflows to tributaries. To lower the overflow, the plant will require the addition of a clarifier, additional sludge handling capabilities and electrical system upgrades.

The city got engineers to draw up and get a plan together of how much it would cost to get everything in order with new pumps, new pump houses and everything in between. American Rescue Plan Act funding provided the city with $2 million, and the city knew it needed to use some of that towards this project. The initial estimate came back at $11,385,000. The city went to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management and asked for funding, and they provided $5 million towards the project out of the State Revolving Fund if the city starts on it by Dec. 31. If not, they will lose that funding. The project was estimated again in August of this year, and the price came back at $16 million. That was just for the sewer plant maintenance and repairs, the largest of the four projects. The city plans to put this project out for bid in October.

Clanton also has 13 sewer lift stations throughout the city that carry waste to the main sewer plant, and there is currently no backup for them. When Hurricane Zeta hit, all 13 stations lost power and got messed up. This led to now when there is a heavy rain in Clanton, the ground water gets into the sewer lines and the outdated equipment at the sewer plant cannot take that much coming in at one time. The city has been working rainstorm by rainstorm trying to locate where the water is coming into the sewer lines from, but there are still areas they cannot get to.

The project on these 13 stations in the city will put generators and propane tanks at each of them in the event of another power outage. It will also add a computer monitoring system for the utilities department to monitor the stations virtually. The initial estimate for the project in March 2022 was $1,419,424, but the new estimate came back in August at $2 million. ADEM was able to provide another $800,000 in SRF funds towards it, in the event the city contracts the project out by Dec. 31 or the funding will be lost. The city plans to put the project out for bid in November.

The raw water intake pumping station was constructed in Clanton in 1955 with two pumps, and in 1983 an addition two pumps were added. Currently, there is no backup system for the water plant if the power went out. If the plant were to lose power, it would take only a day to run the city dry.

“People do not realize that if we lose power to the water pump station for 24 hours, everyone in Clanton uses enough water to drain the tank at Higgins Ferry and the Peach Tower,” Mims said.

The city put this project out for bid in August as well expecting it to come back at around $2 million. Instead, it came back at $3,469,000. The city elected to use its remaining $985,000 of ARPA funding towards this project. ADEM was able to provide another $1 million in SRF funds towards it, in the event the city contracts the project out by Dec. 31 or the funding will be lost. ADECA provided an Urgent Needs Grant to the city in the amount of $500,000 for the project, leaving the city just over $500,000 to their goal, but still needing more funding.

Lastly, the city has to replace all of its water meters that are currently 23 years old. The city operates with a 50% water loss due to leaks. Replacing the 5,000 water meters in the city will reduce the water loss and improve revenue. ADEM told the city they have to go around to every water meter and clean it out and tell them what kind of water line is coming in and what kind is going to the home at each meter. This project will cost $3 million, and it is expected to start in November and last three years.

In total, all four projects are projected to cost $24,469,000. The city has secured $9,285,000 in funding through grants, but that still leaves $15,184,000 left to complete them. From the very initial steps of these projects, ADEM said the city must raise its water and sewer rates since it had not since 1976. They said a 24% increase in water and a 33% increase in sewer would be able to get the city back up to where they are supposed to be at.

“(ADEM) told us two or three years ago that we have to raise our (water and sewer) rates, and we knew that,” Mims said. “But we did not want to hurt our community out here.”

To both create funding for the projects and look out for the residents, the board made the decision to increase the rates gradually. The rate increase started last year with water rates going up 5% and sewer rates up by 10%. The rates will increase each October until the 24% and 33% thresholds are met for both rates.

“The board fully understands the challenges posed by rising costs, especially in today’s economic climate, and we want to emphasize the decision was not made lightly,” from the press release from the Water Works and Sewer Board of the City of Clanton.

Mims provided data that said the average household in Clanton uses about 1,500 gallons of water a month. The 5% increase in water rates will raise the rates on average about $1.82 per month. In the future, rates will need to be adjusted more often than they were between 1976-2021 to make sure the city does not fall back into the same position it is in now.

The city is continuing to search for other grants and possible funding that could be available to them for the four projects, and plan to do that until the projects are fully funded.