The Henderson County Fiscal Court Tuesday approved $1.5 million in funding to the Henderson County Water District to continue work to repair its old and leaky system.
Last summer, HCWD began a mountainous project to fix the system that at the time was leaking about 50% of the water the water district bought before getting to its customers. HCWD buys treated water from the Henderson Water Utility and then delivers it to customers through the HCWD system.
To fix the system, HCWD Superintendent Mark Julian asked the fiscal court for $3 million last spring to take on the project. The fiscal court approved the funding but gave out half of it starting in July with the caveat that it would approve the second half of the funding if progress was being made.
Court members Tuesday were appreciative of HCWD’s and Julian’s efforts thus far.
“It’s been impressive to watch,” Magistrate Tim Southard said.
In a Hendersonian article from September 2024, Julian said in July of that year the water district lost about half of the water it bought from HWU and lost roughly $40,000 that month.
In start contrast, last month the water district broke even, Julian told the fiscal court Tuesday. He said it is the first time it has broken even in more than two years.
Water loss in December was higher than in recent months because of a large leak in Reed that has since been fixed, Julian said. According to numbers given at the fiscal court meeting Tuesday, December’s water loss was at about 35%. That number is up from the two months’ previous when 26% was lost in November and 22% in October.
Julian said the water district’s goal is to decrease water loss to 15% or less.
Tuesday he presented a list of how HCWD has used the fiscal court’s first $1.5 million. That includes hiring eight new field staff employees, including two meter readers, two field technicians, two GIS field technicians, a water accountability technician and a heavy equipment operator. HCWD has also bought two new trucks with the funding.
Julian said that 30% of the HCWD system has been mapped by GIS. That 30% of the system includes 355 of 524 hydrants, 483 water valves, 933 water meters, 421 line locates.
The water district has also purchased 1,308 Neptune Mach 10 cellular read meters, which are residential meters. Those are scheduled to be installed this year.
Up next, HCWD wants to continue its work finding leaks and has a goal of repairing 150-plus per year, Julian said.
The water district also plans to install bigger meters to monitor lines and sub-zones, according to Julian.
County Attorney Steve Gold asked what HCWD will do to remain self-sufficient after all the fixes are made. Julian replied that the water district is currently working with the Green River Area Development District to secure grants and loans for a project to make sure that infrastructure and materials are replaced “so that we don’t get into this spot again.”
