FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS
Is SGWASA part of Granville
County? Town of Butner? City of Creedmoor? Or the Town of Stem?
No,
SGWASA is its own municipal government entity – see (What is a Regional Water and Sewer Authority)
What is a Regional Water and Sewer Authority?
In North Carolina, everyone is
familiar with living in a county – it is a unit of local government that has boundaries and
limits as well as responsibilities and duties.
Inside the county, you have other independent local governments called
towns or cities (or sometimes called political subdivisions of the county they
are in). They have their own elected
officials and have their own boundaries, limits, responsibilities and
duties. A water and sewer authority is another type of local government that is
separate and independent of any of the other governments within the county. The boundaries and/or limits are not a “city
limit” line or property line, but the water and sewer lines that they own and operate. The primary purpose of a water and sewer
authority is to provide water and sewer throughout a general area.
SGWASA has a legally separate
governing board. The board members are
not elected, but are appointed from the other local government boards in the
area – 2 members from the Granville County Board of Commissioners, 2 members
from the Town of
Why
was SGWASA formed?
Since the 1940s when the Federal
Government gave to the State of
Why
did the Town of Butner give up the opportunity to own the Water and Sewer
Plants?
The members of the Butner community
wanted to be a part of the region – meaning all of southern
Why
did the rates go up when the Town of Bunter incorporated?
Coincidence only. The Town and SGWASA
are both independent governmental agencies (see What is a Regional Water and Sewer
Authority?) SGWASA’s
rate increases are for the operation of SGWASA and have nothing to do with the
Town of Butner.
Why
have the rates gone up and are continuing to go up?
When SGWASA took over the system
from NC DHHS in January 2005, the first two conditions listed below existed:
1 – The state had not raised rates
since 2000 and were not fully funding things such as depreciation as required.
2 – Based on information found in
the 2005 State Audit, the State was subsidizing the operations of the water and
sewer system. Since
SGWASA’s only source of revenue results from water and sewer services, rates
had to be raised to accommodate the loss of the State subsidy. In short, SGWASA had to ensure that all
expenses were covered by sufficient rate charges.
3 – In 2005 Mt Hope Finishing
stopped it’s dying process. This cut 2.5% of the revenue needed to
operate.
4 - In July 2006 and in July 2007
SGWASA had to raise the rates just to “pay the bills”. By the fall of 2007 SGWASA had a consultant
review its operations to determine some of the equipment that needed to be
repaired and to determine what rates should be set to accomplish this. The consultant estimated that 4.5 million
dollars was needed to fix pump stations, tanks, and replace vehicles and
equipment. This “Capital Improvement”
amount as along with operating expenses were placed into a mathematical model
to determine the rates needed to operate SGWASA. This was the Rate Study that was implemented
in January of 2008. This rate structure
is designed to raise rates over a five year period so that hopefully rates can
then be raised only as costs go up. The
State’s 2000 rate study showed base rates at the level’s SGWASA has had to
raise them to now, it is just they did not implement it so SGWASA has had to
catch up as well as adjust for the loss of industrial revenue.
Why
doesn’t SGWASA accept credit cards or debit cards.
Credit card companies would charge
SGWASA an additional fee each time a credit card payment is made. With 3000 customers, spreading that fee cost
over the mass majority is not fair because most customers would not use
credit/debit cards. Also in 2008 new
rules and regulations were passed to protect customers against identity theft. Accepting credit cards would open SGWASA and
the customers up to a higher risk.
SGWASA does offer bank draft of the monthly bills. This can be set up
at the administrative offices.
Why
doesn’t SGWASA give extensions or take vouchers anymore?
When the water system was operated
under the State DHHS- Town of Butner, the billing system was operated as most
municipalities – The meter would be read the first 10 days of April for the
Water used in March, then the bill was mailed on the 20th of April
with a bill date of the 25th and a Due Date of the 5th of
May (giving the customer 10 to 15 days to pay the bill). If the bill was not paid then an additional
10 days was allowed before cutoff. (A Cut-off Date of May 15). After SGWASA was formed and took control, it
was found that a water and sewer authority cannot bill this way. In accordance with General Statute 162A-9 (c)
(2), SGWASA must wait 30 days after a bill is due before it can cut off
service. So if SGWASA mails out the
bills by the 20th of April with a Due Date of May 5th (10
to 15 days to pay the bill), and if the Bill has not been paid, SGWASA has to
wait at least until the 5th of June to cut off the service for the
water used in March. This allows the
customer 40 to 45 days to pay the bill.
(Due the same personnel (meter readers) reading the meters between the 1st
and the 10th of each month, SGWASA actually extends this period to a
time after the 10th of each month).
Due to the length of time the customer now has to pay the bill, SGWASA
does not allow extensions or accept vouchers for bill payment unless it can be
performed before the cut-off date.
Why do we receive THM and HAA notices now we never did
before?
The notices for Trihalomethanes (THHMs) and Haloacetic Acids (HAAs) came about through the 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking
Water Act. This particular version of
the rules became effective January 2004.
These compounds were found to form when chlorine and dissolved organics
came into contact with each other for extended periods of time. The limits for these were set on a four
quarter running average, which means that different points in the system are
sampled each quarter and the four quarter results are averaged. If this average is below 0.08 milligrams per
liter (mg/l) for THHMs and 0.06 milligrams per liter (mg/l) for HAAs then the
“running average” is in compliance.
The levels and criteria for
setting these limits are as follows:
Maximum
Contaminant Level (MCL) - The highest level of a contaminant that is allowed in
drinking water. MCLs are set as close to
the MCLGs as feasible using the best available treatment technology.
Maximum
Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG) - The level of a contaminant in drinking water
below which there is no known or expected risk to health. MCLGs allow for a margin of safety.
Extra
Note: MCLs are set at very stringent
levels. To understand the possible health effects described for many regulated
constituents, a person would have to drink 2 liters of water every day at the
MCL level for a lifetime to have a one-in-a-million chance of having the
described health effect.
(This language comes from the State and EPA model Consumer Confidence
Report.)
There are times that due to excessive heat and lack of water usage
(industrial closures) SGWASA exceeds these limits. To get back into compliance two things have
been done. One – In November 2005 the
Plant changed its disinfection from free chlorine to chloramines – a chlorine
and ammonia combination. It is a more
persistent disinfectant that takes longer to form the THHMs and HAAs. Second – we have changed the flowing pattern
of the hydrants to make sure we keep the water fresh. (This is something we have to do for water
quality. Some people did not understand
that we have to do this even if there is a drought.)
With
the cost of producing the water why does it seem that hydrants are always
flowing?
The flowing of hydrants is to
maintain water quality. It is done when
a water line is repaired and on a routine basis to keep the water quality up
(see Why do we receive THM and HAA
notices now we never did before?)
Do
the meter readers read the meter’s each month?
Yes, the meters have always been
read every month. Also SGWASA no longer
uses inmate labor to read the meters.
Having two full time employees who can answer questions and offer
assistance improves customer service and helps reduce the possibility of misreads.
If
my water bill is high, why can’t the staff tell me where it went or when it
went through the meter?
SGWASA manually reads the meters
each month and usually about the same day of the month. Monthly usage data is the only information
our office receives from the reading/billing process. How that water was used or when during the
month is not something we can answer.