MORGANTOWN — Only about half of the state’s 301 water utilities had responded to a Public Service Commission fire hydrant safety survey — well after the July 28 deadline — the PSC told legislators Monday morning.
They had about 150 responses so far, so the PSC will be issuing a second order requiring a response, and additional action may follow, Jonathan Fowler, of the PSC’s engineering division, told members of the Joint Technology and Infrastructure Committee during a Monday interim meeting.
PSC Chair Charlotte Lane told the committee, “We are in the process of trying to develop an inventory of what is out there in the state now, and what is being done on inspections and making sure they work.”
Later on Monday, the PSC extended the deadline for municipalities and water districts to file reports to Aug. 25. “We take this matter extremely seriously and must see these final and complete reports,” Lane said in the announcement.
The PSC said keeping accurate, up-to-date records such as these should be “ʻbusiness as usualʼ for a public utility.” This material is part of annual reports that water utilities are required to file, so it should be readily available. “We consider this to be a front and center public safety issue for which timing is of the essence and further delay is unacceptable.”
Only a handful of entities contacted the Commission to request additional time to provide the requested information,” the PSC said.
At the committee meeting, PSC engineer Jonathan Fowler explained that hydrants are regulated by several national standards agencies, and within the state by the Department of Health and Human Resources and the non-governmental Insurance Services Office.
Rural hydrants are required to have a 500-gallon-per-minute flow, while the statewide minimum is 250 gpm, he said. They must be able to function for two hours — needing 60,000 gallons of storage in the system.
The American Water Works Association sets the accepted consensus standard that hydrants must be inspected annually and flow-tested every three or five years, he said.
The survey will allow the PSC to develop a more extensive database on maintenance and testing of the tens of thousands of hydrants across the state, he said, how many are in compliance and what the PSC or the Legislature needs to do to encourage compliance. It’s never before required any utility to provide anything other than the number of hydrants.
“I was pleasantly surprised at how many smaller utilities actually have a written fire hydrant maintenance procedure and how many smaller utilities and municipalities were able to provide documentation of that,” he said.
As part of the process, the PSC will be talking with fire marshals and fire chiefs across the state, he said.
Hydrants are designed to last 100 years, Fowler said, and there are a few that old, but the majority — according to the responses filed so far, are less than 50 years old and parts are still available.
Costs for replacing hydrants can be a deterrent for small utilities, he said. New hydrants on new water lines cost about $5,000 each. New hydrants on existing lines, as part of a bigger project, cost $10,000 each, and one utility reported replacing 10 at $13,000 apiece.
One very-small utility has just seven hydrants, and it told him they’re so old they’re afraid to open them, for fear they won’t be able to shut them off.
Reports have poured in from water utilities across the state. Recently, we looked at several local reports, including those from Morgantown Utility Board and Clay-Battelle Public Service District.
The PSC announced its survey June 30, saying that utilities are responsible for assuring hydrants will perform correctly. Utilities were required to provide information, including the number of hydrants owned or serviced, their age, supporting infrastructure, problems or complaints, and maintenance schedules.
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