SUD Considers Switching from Spray Fields to Dripline


by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

At the April 18 meeting, the Sewanee Utility District Board of Commissioners decided to investigate switching from a spray field to dripline dispersion system at the wastewater treatment plant. The board also discussed making technology and accounting changes this year.

SUD manager Ben Beavers said dripline could be either inground or above ground and offered the benefit of requiring smaller buffer zones, meaning SUD’s usable land area would increase by 25 percent. Increasing the usable land area could be critical if sewer customers increased due to University development or due to state law changes on required public sewer connection. With driplines, there was also less potential for runoff and ponding, according to state research. Beavers cited possible maintenance concerns since dripline systems required filters to keep the emitters from getting clogged. There were very few large dripline systems in the state, Beavers said.

Lightning strike damage will necessitate replacing the spray head system in one section of the spray fields, and Beavers suggested SUD could switch to dripline in that section as a test. Board President Charlie Smith said a SUD switch to a dripline would offer a good opportunity to do a timber harvest in the spray fields. Beavers said the timber harvest done over 10 years ago improved soil conditions and paid for itself, in addition to yielding a small amount of revenue.

Turning to technology and accounting issues, Beavers said the accounting software SUD used would cease to be supported by the end of the year. He had not been pleased with the customer service of the provider and said other providers offered the same package at the same cost, $20,000, with better customer service. SUD also needed to decide whether to use cloud-based or server provided data storage. Beavers said according to SUD’s IT advisor, cloud-based was just as secure and offered the advantage of not needing to be regularly updated.

Another technology issue confronting SUD is replacing its 10-year-old computer hardware, which does not support Windows 11. Beavers noted part of the American Recovery Plan (ARP) grant money SUD anticipated receiving was for computers, and SUD might be able to pay for new hardware with the grant money.

In a related area, the board discussed switching auditors once the 2022 audit was completed. Commissioner Doug Cameron pointed out it was good practice to change auditors every five years. Beavers said the cost of local auditors was about the same. “In the past it has served us well to stay local.”

Beavers’ report on operations showed unaccounted-for-water loss at just 15.3 percent. (Unaccounted-for-water loss is water produced at the plant that does not register on customer meters.) Smith said, when he joined the board in 2017, unaccounted-for-water loss was around 30 percent. “Unaccounted-for-water loss has been down for a solid three months,” Beavers said. “It’s encouraging.” He attributed the decrease to locating and repairing a leak in Deepwoods. Looking to the future, Beavers wants to replace failing pressure regulators and make sure pressure regulators are in optimal locations. “Controlling leaks is controlling pressure,” Beavers insisted. He hopes some of the ARP grant money can be used for pressure regulation, as well.

Commissioner Clay Yeatman raised questions about the rate SUD charged the University and stormwater control. Although SUD could charge institutional customers more, the decision was made “a long time ago” to charge the University the same rate as other customers, Beavers said. Taking up the stormwater control question, Beavers said SUD did not own the stormwater drainage system. The infrastructure belonged to the county and state and was located primarily along state and county roads.

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