The Henderson County Fiscal Court recently approved $3 million funding for the Henderson County Water District so that it can get a handle on a leaky system that loses more than 40% of its water before it can reach customers.
The approval, on April 22, came weeks after Mark Julian, the water district’s superintendent, presented information and a call for help to mend a system that he says has needed to be fixed for years.
Julian submitted a proposal to Fiscal Court last week in which he put together a timeline of work to be completed over the next three years.
Henderson County Judge-Executive Brad Schneider said payment of the $3 million funding will occur in phases as work on Julian’s timeline is completed. Additionally, Julian will need to report regularly to Fiscal Court regarding progress being made on the three-year plan, the judge-executive said.
At the top of the list to fix the leaky system is the need to isolate it into five zones and then monitor the purchased water against the billed water usage so that the water district can identify which zone is leaking the most water, Julian said. He said it makes sense to find and fix that zone first and then go from there.
Other parts of the upgrade include ultrasonic customer meters, sub-zone meters and SCADA system upgrades. All are wanted to improve finding the locations of water loss, according to the document Julian gave to Fiscal Court.
The greatest expense—at $1.28 million—is funding to hire eight new employees, according to the document. Julian said one big reason the water district can’t make headway currently is because of a small staff.
The eight proposed employees include two full-time meter readers, two field technicians to search for and fix leaks, two field technicians to conduct GPS data collection, one heavy equipment operator and one water accountability employee. Julian said the employees would be hired two at a time.
In March, Julian told the Fiscal Court that the system currently leaks about 43% of the water it takes in before it gets to customers. HCWD buys treated water from Henderson Water Utility and transports it to its customers living in the county.
The goal is to bring water leakage down to less than 20% within 36 months, said Julian.
The document Julian submitted to Fiscal Court says HCWD’s proposal mirrors a successful plan that occurred in Estill County that saw a system that had 50% leakage decrease to 15% “using similar methods.”
Julian said the water district has regularly repaired mains and leaks in one part of the county while other leaks spring up almost simultaneously in a system that was built in the 1960s. Since the water lines were put in then, not much maintenance has occurred as federal grants designated for that work dried up, Julian said
According to a Hendersonian article last summer, Julian said the HCWD system has been suffering significant water loss since 2018 which predates Julian’s arrival at general manager by about five years. In July 2024, the water district lost nearly $40,000 because of the leaky system.
Also last summer, the water district applied for a $1.125 million grant from the Kentucky WWaters program, a new state program that designates funding specifically to repair aging water districts across the state, many in the same boat as HCWD. HCWD didn’t receive the funding other water districts across the state ranked higher in need.
Schneider said he, Julian and County Attorney Steve Gold will work together to create the payment plan for the $3 million funding from Fiscal Court.