By Sarah Vogelsong
CP Reporter
Port Royal is weighing the question of whether it should retain control of its deteriorating water system or allow Aqua Virginia to take it over and run the utility privately.
As an early step toward making that decision, Town Council members heard a presentation at their Aug. 19 meeting from Aqua Virginia.
Currently, nearly every component of Port Royal’s water system is nearing the end of its useful life. The distinctive water tower that looms over the town bearing its name was constructed in 1942, and the steel tank, which replaced an older wooden one in 1967, can only be filled to about a quarter of its capacity, because a greater volume of water risks overstressing the tower structure and causing it to collapse. The roughly 10,000 feet of water lines that serve residents are constructed of a range of material, from cast iron to aluminum to PVC pipe, with some portions dating back almost a century.
A December 2012 letter from the Port Royal Town Council to the Board of Supervisors noted that “the water tower … has deteriorated beyond repair. As a result, the Town is in imminent danger of having its water condemned by the [Virginia] Health Department.”
Although VDH has refrained from condemning the structure, a series of leaks in the water lines have plagued the town over the past several years. According to town manager Bill Wick, a leak in the cast iron Caroline Street water line last year cost Port Royal $11,000 to repair.
Prior to the boundary line adjustment that went into effect July 1, Port Royal’s hands were effectively tied even in applying for grants, because it was unable to demonstrate that it had the ability to maintain an improved system. Last July, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development turned down the town’s application for a block grant that would have helped it replace the system.
With the boundary line adjustment, however, the town now has the means available to address its water problem, and it faces a critical choice regarding the system’s future.
Aqua Virginia presented a proposal to the council last Tuesday night to buy the system. Cliff Parker, Aqua’s director of corporate development and engineering, outlined a five-year $370,200 capital plan for replacing the system, with the majority of investment occurring in the first year, when $266,200 would go toward completely upgrading the town’s pump station, demolishing the existing water tank, and otherwise getting the system in order.
According to Parker, once the different legal hurdles of acquiring the system were surmounted, it would take Aqua Virginia between six and nine months to dismantle the elevated tank and get the new system operational. The existing tank would be replaced by a 25,000-gallon non-elevated tank that the town recently purchased from New Kent County but has not yet brought back to Port Royal because of the approximately $10,000 cost of transportation. Aqua Virginia would also install a hydropneumatic tank and a ground-based storage tank for the pump stations, as well as a new generator.
Parker described Aqua Virginia’s philosophy as one of “continuous investment,” in which small, steady reinvestment over time keeps assets from depreciating rapidly and prolongs their life.
“We’re going to make continual, prudent investment,” Parker said. “That infrastructure has got to last a long time.”
Parker also outlined an “incremental approach” to replacing the town’s network of water lines, reporting that Aqua Virginia’s research had revealed a generally favorable outlook for this project.
“If we have an area that needs it, we’ll go in and replace it immediately. But otherwise, we’ll start a phasing program,” he said. “The wheels aren’t coming off the wagon at this point.”
Aqua Virginia’s proposed rate, based on an estimated residential usage of 130 gallons per day, or 3,900 gallons per month, would be approximately $44.01 per month, a figure made up of a $16.33/month base facility charge and a rate of $7 per 1,000 gallons. Currently, Port Royal residents pay $35 per month and businesses pay $45 for water, although council members noted that those rates would also almost certainly increase if the town maintained control of the system.
As Aqua Virginia president Shannon Becker explained, the company’s rates are regulated by the State Corporation Commission, and any proposed rate increases must go through a lengthy audit process to gain the SCC’s approval.
Because of the amount of capital that needs to be invested in the system, Port Royal would be brought in at the highest tier of Aqua Virginia’s rate system, Becker said. However, he stated, even at that tier, the rate is still slightly lower than the average rate found by the 2013 Draper Aden Report of 150 municipal waterworks around the country.
Aqua Virginia is a subsidiary of the publicly traded Aqua America and operates in about a third of Virginia’s counties, including Caroline, where it operates a wastewater facility at Lake Land’Or.
If Port Royal opts to retain control of its system, it will be responsible for not only replacing the various aged components and water lines but also maintaining them in years to come. Additionally, the town would need to extend its water system out to the businesses brought into Port Royal by the July boundary line adjustment.
In examining this option, Port Royal has begun to look into the possibility of obtaining a long-term loan from the Virginia Department of Health or the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development program.
According to Wick, in a meeting between council members and county planning director Mike Finchum, interim director of public works Joey Schiebel, and county administrator Charles Culley, the county discussed the possibility of letting Port Royal use county staff from the Public Utilities Department to maintain the town’s system at a very low cost of about 1 percent of system revenue.
Alan Roberson, a representative of the Community Engineering Corps, also spoke with the council at the Aug. 19 meeting. The CEC, a joint initiative of Engineers Without Borders, the American Society of Civil Engineering, and the American Water Works Association, where as his day job Roberson works as a director of federal relations, offers free engineering expertise and resources to financially strapped or otherwise underserved communities. All participants in the CEC offer their services on a volunteer basis.
Roberson outlined several ways in which his group could assist Port Royal, including aid in writing grant proposals, conducting research, and providing administrative support.
“I’m trying to see if I can do three things, which are listen, learn, and help out,” he told the council. “I’m not going to give you the pros and cons of Aqua, … but we provide assistance.”
Council ultimately expressed a desire to continue looking at the different options and to hear future presentations from relevant groups, as well as to ultimately incorporate the townspeople into the decision-making process.
“We haven’t gotten the education that I think that we need to make a logical decision,” said Mayor Nancy Long.
In other news, the council rescheduled its next meeting to Sept. 15 to avoid a conflict with the Lyra concert that will be held by St. Peter’s Episcopal Church on Sept. 16.