MORGANTOWN – The state Public Service Commission is continuing its statewide review of fire hydrant safety – maintenance and inspections.
Reports have poured in from water utilities across the state. On Sunday, we looked at two local reports, from Morgantown Utility Board and Clay-Battelle Public Service District. Here we look at the highlights of 10 more local districts.
The PSC said in its June 30 announcement that utilities are responsible for assuring hydrants will perform correctly. If a hydrant doesn’t have adequate flow, the utility is not providing adequate service. Hydrants must have minimum flows of 250 gallons per minute.
Utilities were required to provide information including the number of hydrants owned or serviced, their age, supporting infrastructure, problems or complaints, and maintenance schedules. A few utilities have not done flow rate testing but those that have report pressures at or above the recommended minimum.
Preston County PSD 1 has utility-owned hydrants plus two privately owned on private lines. Seven hydrants are over 50 years old. It inspects all 61 it owns each year. It spends an average $3,000 per year on maintenance and has replaced two hydrants in the last 5 years.
On a 1-10 scale, Preston PSD 1 self-rates its annual inspection and testing program as a 7. It inspects all hydrants biannualy during the routine system flush.
It makes this observation about tight funding: “Being a public service district, we’re no stranger to having to stick to a strict budget. Money is set aside for emergency purposes, but hydrant maintenance, while very important in many different ways, doesn’t always qualify for that use.”
Tunnelton Municipal Water has 39 hydrants, with the oldest age 33. It has installed seven new hydrants in the last 10 years but has performed no inspections in the last five years. It spends $200 annually on maintenance. It self-rates its program as a lowly 1.
Terra Alta Water Works has 114 hydrants, with the oldest 30 years old. It has no average annual cost estimate for maintenance. On a 1-10 scale, it rates its annual inspection and testing program as a 5.
Arthurdale Water Company has just 14 hydrants, with eight of them over age 50 and the oldest being 75. It inspects six hydrants per year, with an $500 annual maintenance cost. It self-rates as an 8.
Grant Town, in Marion County, has 40 hydrants with just one over 50 years old. All are inspected annually and it spends on average $2,180 per year. It self-rates as an 8 and notes it is working on improving its inspection log system.
Kingwood Water Works owns 347 hydrants and serves another 16 privately owned hydrants. Of those it owns, 28 are older than 50, with the oldest installed in 1940. It inspects all its own hydrants annually and has replaced two in the last five years. It has no record of annual costs, and self-rates as a 7.
Clinton Water Association has 84 hydrants, with none over age 50 and the oldest at 39 years. It inspects all of them annually and has replaced two in the last five year. It says it is unsure of its minimum flow rate and says local fire departments provided flow testing documents, but they are trying to find them in old files. It self-rates as a 6,
Star City has 41 hydrants with more than 10 over age 50, It inspects 10 per year and spends $2,000 annually on maintenance. It has replaced three in the past five years and installed five new ones in the past 10 years. It records its minimum flow rate as 25, and it’s likely that the 0 was left off. It self-rates as a 4.
Newburg Water Works has 56 hydrants, with the oldest age 44. It inspects all annually but records no average annual maintenance cost or minimum flow rate. It has replaced three hydrants in the last five years and self-rates as a 7.
While most reports run from two to sometimes 10 or so pages, Fairmont’s is a whopping 971 pages, because it sent every inspection report. Fairmont has 530 utility-owned hydrants plus 248 privately owned on public water lines and another 34 privately owned on private water lines. It has spent an average $43,949.49 annually on maintenance and has replaced 77 hydrants in the last five years.
While not local, West Virginia American Water offers a striking contrast. Its report was 724 pages. WVAM serves 22 municipalities and has 10,548 utility-owned hydrants. Of those. It knows that 1,273 are over 50, with the oldest from 1907. It says many of its hydrants were acquired from other utilities and it doesn’t know the age of 5,304 of them.
WVAM inspects 10,404 per year, with an annual average maintenance cost of $800,000. It has replaced 614 hydrants in the last five years and installed 1,344 new ones in the past 10 years.
Finally, PSC received two citizen letters supporting the safety program. One came from a Mon County MUB customer who said his 26-house HOA has four hydrants. He reports that MUB has not tested them in the last 18 years. A MUB worker reportedly told him, “It isn’t done anymore because if we did, it would change the color of your tap water and we would have to notify everyone before and during testing.” The residents asks, “So does the hydrant work?”
We sent a copy of this letter to MUB for their response. MUB told us all four hydrants were inspected on Aug. 1, 2022, and found to be in good shape and functioning properly. Preventive maintenance was also conducted on each.
“As part of our annual inspection plan, the hydrants are scheduled for inspection again this August. … We have received no complaints or contact of any kind regarding resident concerns of fire hydrants in that area. We take fire service extremely seriously and will promptly respond to any issues or community concerns.”
As we reported on Sunday, the PSC said it is collating the information turned in, and it doesn’t know how long that might take. PSC chair Charlotte Lane said in June, “We are seeking information and will evaluate when we receive it and then we will determine if further action is necessary.”
Email: dbeard@dominionpost.com
