The Florida Rural Water Association presented its findings and a subsequent Drinking Water System Asset Management and Fiscal Sustainability (AMFS) plan based on those findings for the town of Jay Monday night.
The Northwest Florida Water Management District asked the Florida Rural Water Association to do an assessment of Jay water system.
Council members received a printout of proposed improvements and associated rate sufficiency and
Chris Bailey with the Florida Rural Water Association discussed the findings.
Bailey said they found water transmission lines that need replacing, nine hydrants that failed and nine that were in poor condition and 11 valves in poor condition, adding that he is aware the town is wanting to upgrade to automation at the wells and water treatment plant and that adding a number of valves would make it easier to isolate any problems in the future.
“When we assessed them, we GPS mapped everything,” said Bailey. “For a small fee each month, you would be able to see the ones in bad condition, which ones are failed, which ones are average or even excellent. We did mark those.”
Bailey presented estimates of $620,000 project costs to the town if no grant money was available, based on rate adjustments, noting amounts based on annual reserve funding.
“The goodness is it allows us to show that we have a full plan for our systems, so that when we go to get grants, we are managing and not letting stuff just waste away,” said Operations Manager Eric Seib. “It will help us with future grant applications.”
Seib said he is working on the numbers for total project cost but that grants are specific to how much can be spent on certain parts of the project, making it difficult to come up with a solid, accurate total.
