REEDSVILLE — The State Public Service Commission approved a rate increase for Public Service District 1 (PSD 1).
The approval comes just as the project to replace the dam at the district’s primary water source is wrapping up. The dam at J.W. Ruby Research Farms, called Impoundment 1, was closed in 2017 by the owner, USDA
Natural Resources Conservation Service.
The scheduled completion date for the dam to replace the 50-year-old one was December 2018, but the project was delayed. The district struggled to maintain a replacement source, and higher treatment costs forced costs up, it said.
In an order entered Tuesday, the PSC approved a two-tiered set of rates. The first sets a minimum bill of $56.67 for homes with a 5/8-inch meter. After the district returns to Impoundment 1 as its primary water source, that rate will drop to $51.93 per month.
The current minimum monthly rate for homes is $46.16.
On March 18, a public hearing was held on the proposed rate increases. A number of customers came forth at the hearing to protest the rate increase, citing the poor quality of the water from the temporary sources, which stained appliances, clogged filters, irritated skin and was not fit to drink or bathe in, they said.
The commission also ordered the district to provide it with monthly updates on the dam project and notify it when it can use the dam impoundment as its primary water source again, and “implement an aggressive flushing procedure,” of its lines. The flushing would be to remove the deposits that filtered out of the water from temporary sources.
PSD 1 Water Operator Danny Layton said the gates could be closed so that the dam begins to fill as early as Monday. When the water reaches about 25.5 feet, the district can begin drawing from it again. When full, the impoundment will be 36-feet deep.
The district needs the additional capacity the new dam allows, board members said earlier. The old impoundment had silted in, so that there was only 3-5 feet, with a trough in the middle. That meant it turned away some companies that would have needed more water than it could supply at the time, they said.
TWEET @DominionPostWV
