by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the July 18 meeting, the Sewanee Utility District Board of Commissioners reviewed the features of the new billing software SUD will implement in January 2024 and the proposed cybersecurity policy and the cybersecurity plan recently adopted. The board also weighed the pros and cons of switching from spray-field to dripline application of effluent at the wastewater treatment plant.

The new CUSI billing software will be far more customer friendly. “People’s access to their information will be substantially better,” said SUD manager Ben Beavers. Customers will be able to change email and other account information, sign up for continual credit-card billing, check on their annual water usage and more. CUSI will make a prototype portal available so customers can interact with the software’s features before SUD implements the new platform. Watch the Messenger and the SUD website for details.

In keeping with a state-comptroller requirement, SUD recently adopted a cybersecurity plan. Employee training is underway. The plan stipulates “how we’re going to keep people from getting our stuff,” Beavers said. At the water plant, controls are not hooked up to or accessed via the internet. The four office computers have access to billing software, but employees cannot use SUD computers for personal business; employees needing to conduct business during breaks must use their personal devices and connect to SUD’s guest network. The Tennessee Association of Utility Districts (TAUD) recommended SUD have a cybersecurity policy, as well. The board will review the suggested TAUD policy for a vote at the next meeting on Aug. 15. TAUD said in the future insurance companies would insist public utilities have a cybersecurity policy on the books.

Revisiting the topic of dripline versus spray field application of effluent, Beavers said he spoke with Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation official Bob O’Dette who oversees subsurface sewage disposal. O’Dette has been involved with the SUD spray-field operation since its inception. O’Dette highly recommended dripline dispersal, Beavers said. Dripline installation costs 40 percent less and increases application amounts by as much as 10-15 percent since no buffer is needed to avoid overspray onto adjoining property. However, the soil loading allowance would be the same, Beavers noted, and the same rules would apply (no pooling and nothing leaves the site). Beavers suggested switching one spray field to dripline as a test. According to Beavers, O’Dette said he would back SUD’s application “as an experiment” to gauge potential increased application rates, since the knowledge gained would benefit other water utilities. At present, no municipal sewage disposal operations use dripline.

Updating the board on the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) project to narrow Highway 41A, Beavers said TDOT had not closed out the project even though the work was completed. As a result, SUD must continue to hold in escrow unspent money earmarked for the project. Beavers said the project was bid under the same contract as another project in which there was an ongoing dispute over a culvert. The dispute has prevented the project from being closed.