The town of Autryville is now facing many issues with its water system following the installation of a new water tower just outside of Roseboro.
At Autryville’s Board of Commissioners meeting last Tuesday night, Mayor Grayson Spell brought to light recent issues that the town has faced with the water system ever since the installation of the new tower. The mayor stated that Autryville’s tank is now overflowing, causing them to be charged for more water than they are actually using.
“The problem that we are having is that since the new water tower was put online, our tank is overflowing a lot,” said Spell. “Every couple of days, it keeps overflowing and there is no telling how much water we’re actually paying for, it’s just dumping on the ground.”
Spell says that he and a few engineers have spent several months investigating the cause of the issue along with a possible solution. After investigating, Spell determined that the problem lies with differences in elevation between the two towers.
“The theory is that the county’s water tower is, not that it was built wrong or designed wrong, but with respect to our tower, it’s a little bit too tall,” said Spell. “So even when their tank is not completely full, elevation-wise it’s causing our tank to run over.”
As a result of the issue, Spell determined that the solution was to put in an altitude valve. This valve would communicate with the rest of the county’s water system and would close a valve to Autryville’s water tower instead of just letting it flow freely.
“The system that we have now, all it will do is just turn off the pumps, but the water is still flowing by gravity, which causes our tank to overflow,” said Spell. “A valve would automatically turn off our water tower to keep it from overflowing and then open it back up when the pressure is such that it won’t overflow.”
In response to the issue, Autryville has had to turn off its water tower for the past few months. This action has caused additional problems, including a decreased potential for fire protection and low water pressure or no water at all in certain homes.
“Our goal here is not to point fingers at anybody,” said Spell. “We’re really excited that the county built the new water tower.”
In regards to the issue, discussion was also made as to who should handle the issue: Autryville or the county?
“Nobody likes to claim ownership of things of this nature from a financial standpoint,” said Commissioner Tommy Honeycutt. “My assumption is that we’re buying water from the county and we’re paying for it to get to us and the problem is it getting to us. When we’ve got ours full, they’ve got no way of stopping what’s coming to us. The county’s got a problem there, ‘cause it is on that side of the system.”
The board then voted to let Mayor Spell speak to county officials about the issue to see what can be done in regards to the issue. Coincidentally, County Manager Allen Vann was present at the meeting for an unrelated matter and expressed interest in working with the town to help remedy the situation.
“We’re very happy to look into that and do all we can to work together and achieve a positive outcome for everybody,” said Vann. “I will go back and work with Public Works to explore some kind of solution and what options we have.”