Milledgeville officials working to resolve city’s water issues

Milledgeville officials say they are in the planning stages of updating the city’s infrastructure after homes and businesses spent nearly a week with low water levels.

MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Milledgeville officials say they are in the planning stages of updating the city’s infrastructure after homes and businesses spent nearly a week with low water levels.

The city lifted its boil water advisory on Saturday after tests for bacteria indicated the water was safe to drink.

Hank Griffeth, the City Manager, says the most recent water issue was caused by a failed pump at the city’s water treatment plant. It happened just four months after Milledgeville experienced water line breaks due to freezing temperatures.

“While I’m sorry the situation happened, it’s just like any other utility, whether it be Georgia Power or gas or anything else, you may have a break in service occasionally,” Griffeth explained. “It’s just that water as a utility, most people consider it a little bit more of a basic utility.”

Prior to the pump failure, city officials were already planning to address a contract for engineering on refurbishing the water plant.

“New pumps, new filters, new treatment processes,” Griffeth said. “We anticipate that’s gonna be somewhere between 35 and 50 million dollars worth of new.”

According to Griffeth, Milledgeville will pay for the repairs with the $1 million the city received from the American Rescue Plan. It’s also considering applying for a loan from the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority.

Griffeth says they’re also upgrading the Water Treatment Plant’s SCADA system, or Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. The system allows plant operators to remotely monitor water tanks, lift stations, or any water lines outside of the plant.

“I feel like if we can get a handle on our delivery infrastructure for water lines and get some of those that are the oldest, that are failing the most often replaced, and get our water plant refurbished, we will be headed in the right direction,” he said.

The Milledgeville Water treatment plant was built in the 1950s, and the city’s oldest pipes date back to the 1930s. Griffeth says it would cost a conservative estimate of $158 million to completely overhaul the city’s 200 miles of water lines.

The refurbishment of the Water Treatment Plant is still in the planning stages and is expected to take two years to complete once work begins.