Union Aldermen and Town officials are on the hot seat with Mississippi Department of Health over the town’s overtaxed water system and potential health concerns. In certified letters sent to Mayor Wayne Welch, MSDH called town officials to a public hearing Tuesday morning in Jackson to answer a complaint they were in violation of the Mississippi Safe Drinking Water Act of 1997.
The Department of Health cited several deficiencies in its letter, including low water pressure, which could result in contamination, and a booster station operating at 278 percent capacity. The deficiencies were first documented in December 2016, and while the low water pressure has been resolved, the booster pump has continued to operate above its designed output.
Mayor Welch said the Board does not dispute the health department’s deficiencies but that was not the full story. They were first warned by MSDH in 2009, he said.
The root cause of the town’s water issues, the booster pump and the water pressure, he said, is a decades long attempt by Union to take over New Island and County Line water associations.
“The board voted to take those over sometime in the 90’s,” he said.
For years after the vote, Welch said, Union operated as though the takeover was successful. However, trouble began when the Board of Aldermen received a Small Municipalities grant to upgrade County Line Water Association.
“We applied for a small muni grant to make improvements,” he said, adding he thought that was around December 2016, though that date could be wrong. “We couldn’t do anything for six months due to the election.”
After the six months were up, Union began moving forward with the improvement plan. However, those plans were abruptly stopped when the Public Service Commission told the board they did not own County Line Water Association, so they were not authorized to make improvements.
“I guess we filed the wrong paperwork or something,” he said.
The Board of Aldermen then tried to give County Line Water Association to Central Water Association, which serves parts of Neshoba County. However, Welch said, Central wanted $50,000 to take 200 customers and refused to take 36 customers in hard-to-reach areas.
Welch said the board decided not to pay Central Water Association to take the 200 customers, as there would be no way to recoup the cost from 36 customers and would most likely require the upgrades to proceed anyway.
The booster station is operating at 278 percent capacity and has been since before Welch became mayor, he said. However, the Board of Aldermen cannot address the problems until the Public Service Commission holds a public hearing to formally allow them to take over ownership of New Island and County Line Water Associations.
A public hearing for New Island Water Association is scheduled sometime in September, Welch said. A hearing for County Line will be held in 2020.
As for the meeting with the Department of Health, Welch said he expected a firm talking to and a deadline set for March 2020 to show the town is working on upgrading the booster station.
