What you can’t see can hurt you. Albany embarks on water main replacement project to address aging system

ALBANY – After Hurricane Michael battered Albany on Oct. 10, 2018, and utilities were shut off, the question David Apperson heard most was: “When are you going to get the water turned back on?.” 

The questions about the restoration of power would come later, but not until that fluid that is necessary for life was again flowing out of faucets, the city of Albany’s interim water systems superintendent said. 

Keeping the water moving through the pipes is an essential service for many municipalities, and one that takes constant monitoring and repairing of the system. The city has a history of neglecting infrastructure – something that was made evident in recent years with the city’s sewage system and the years-long search to find a site for its transportation center.

People think of water as something that just flows when the handle is turned on the faucet, Apperson said, but keeping that flow moving takes a lot of moving parts, both in terms of facilities and equipment and the people who repair and monitor the system.

“At some point you have to stop kicking the can down the road,” he said. “We don’t want the state to say, ‘You have to do this.’ You don’t think about that stuff underground. That always seems to be forgotten.”

That was the case with the city’s combined sewage and storm drainage system, with the city forced by a Georgia Environmental Protection Division mandate that cost more than $100 million in order to achieve 85% separation of waste and stormwater.  

Being that many of the city’s water mains have been buried for more than 100 years, there are sure to be surprises when water system staff encounter them.

“There’s some stuff down there that could have been replaced … (Or) we don’t know,” Apperson said. “We’re trying to be proactive rather than reactive. In the long run, it costs less money.”

At the urging of Albany City Manager Terrell Davis, the Albany City Commission earmarked $800,000 for the fiscal year budget to start tackling needed repairs. Estimates are that a 10-year renovation is needed, and monetary requests will likely be $2 million for the remainder of that period. 

The city has offset some of the work through grants and is looking to apply for additional state and federal money in order to reduce the costs to utility customers.

The city’s water system was born in 1872 with the first water facility in the downtown area, Deputy of Utility Operations Kurt Anthony said. The system of water mains stretches 700 miles beneath the city, and some parts of the system have not been replaced in decades.

There are 28 wells throughout the city that draw from the Claiborne, Clayton, Cretaceous, Floridan and Tallahatta aquifers, with 11 elevated tanks capable of storing up to a total of 8.75 million gallons. It also manages some of the water distribution in the Putney area and at Turner Job Corps.

The system is permitted to draw up to 36 million gallons a day as long as it does not exceed an average of 24 million gallons, and the latest report shows a withdrawal from aquifers of 13.5 million gallons per day. During the 1990s, the city pumped between 30 and 35 million gallons per day, but the reduction in population and losses of major industrial facilities like Cooper Tire, Merck Chemical and Bobs Candy, among others, has reduced that consumption.

The aging buried infrastructure has a tendency to spring leaks, with water system employees fixing several a week. Most of those leaks are not visible on the surface, with the water flowing downhill or even into storm drains, so finding those sources of water loss takes some detective work or luck.

Currently the city’s qualified water loss auditor score with the EPD system is 5.9, placing it barely within a “fair” mark, with 6 or greater representing a system rated as poor for water loss.

That represents an estimated 25.75 million gallons of water lost through leakage for 2025, Anthony said.

“That tells us significant leakage needs to be addressed,” he said. “We’ve been replacing a lot of the two-inch mains but have more to do because we have to work within  the allocated budget.”

A contractor checks 120 miles of the total of 700 miles of underground water mains each year.  The city also uses high-tech equipment, including thermal imaging and drones, to check for leaks.

The department actually started the job of replacing aging water mains last year, but that was ramped up for the 2026-2027 budget year and is expected to accelerate for the next 10 years or so.

“Over the next five years, we’re projected to do 25 miles of water mains,” Anthony said. 

The project also will include working in conjunction with other city projects, including a downtown streetscape project that will include replacing sidewalks, while water mains are being replaced. The water work also will need to be timed in conjunction with repaving projects so that newly resurfaced roadway is not ripped up later to replace water pipes..

In addition to replacing water mains the water project will include replacing fire hydrant pipes and hydrants as well as other water-related infrastructure. The downtown work alone is expected to cost about $5 million.

“The downtown area is a big one,” Apperson said. 

While the water main replacement project will represent a big milestone, it does not mean the end of the road, Anthony said, as the work is a cycle. But maintaining the revamped system will require replacing older pipes over time, and that should come with less emergency repairs.

“Mr. (Terrell) Jacobs has tackled the hard stuff,” he said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be popular, because it costs a lot of money.”