Raw water project with Wintergreen put on hold

One of the raw water projects the Nelson County Service Authority has been working on with Wintergreen Partners, Inc. has been put on hold.

Wintergreen is unable to afford the 5 million gallon raw water storage tank construction project on top of the mountain at this time, George Miller, the Nelson County Service Authority’s executive director, announced at the authority’s meeting last Thursday. The project would have cost about $6.2 million.

“We put it on the shelf and when we can, we’ll pull it off again,” Miller said.

The authority has already received the results of an inspection of the tank.

“It was basically a report card that maintained what we already knew — that it was well maintained and there’s nothing wrong with it,” Miller said.

The Service Authority is also paying off the total amount of the $118,000 line of credit for the Wintergreen projects because the resort is currently unable to contribute 50 percent, which was previously agreed on.

The authority is billing the resort for its portion and the resort will pay when it can. The authority will use money from the operational budget to pay it by the August 3 deadline, Miller said.

Ed Rothgeb, the South District representative, suggested the authority proceed with more caution on future projects where the authority is only assuming a portion of the cost.

A 12-inch supply line for Wintergreen is proceeding. It will cost $332,000, Miller said.

The approximate 42,000-foot pipe will run parallel to the existing 8-inch line it will be replacing. Most of the pipe will be installed under the bank of the road, rather than under asphalt like the current pipe.

Construction on the line is planned to begin in March and should be completed by the end of June. Pace Development, a Waynesboro-based company, is doing the work, Miller said.

The 8-inch line had around 15 leaks since 2008, with seven in 2010 alone, Miller said.

“I’m just very glad we have the money from the water treatment plan to do this,” he said.

In other business, the authority unanimously voted to separate water lines among some customers in Lovingston.

Currently the 14 customers — a mix of residences and businesses — share water service, which means that if there is a problem at one property, all of the properties are affected.

This was seen with a water leak by Vito’s Italian Restaurant next to the ice cream store on U.S. 29 on Jan. 23. Because of a small break in one of the lines to the residence, all of the customers had to go without service for the day.

The new lines would be connected off the current main lines and run directly to the properties, where meters would be installed. This would ensure that if a break happens again, only that one property would be affected, Miller said.

“I think it’s a great idea to separate the services,” Rothgeb said.

Authority members compared the connected services to a party phone line where everyone is connected and affected by another customer’s actions.

The project would cost about $25,000 and could be done by the authority’s already trained staff. There would be no need for engineers because the new lines will be connected to already established lines, which is work the staff has done before.

The authority would pay for it using the operational budget, which is funded by the rate structure. The project would be completed at no cost to the customers. However once the new lines are installed, the customers assume responsibility for the cost of the line on their property, which is the current policy.

Miller expects the work to begin at some point this spring and be completed by this fall.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Miller said. “We can do it in house and it’s not that expensive.”