Public Works Director Explains City's Water, Sewer Issues

The possibility of coupled with the large problem within the city’s water and sewage system is causing concern and ire among Manassas Park residents.

James “Jay” Johnson, the city’s public works director, explains the problem, ways to improve the water and sewer systems and why a water bill increase is imminent.

 This complicated multi-faceted issue can be difficult to understand, so we’ve broken it down into a simple, question-and-answer format.

Q-Where does Manassas Park get its water?

A-The City of Manassas and the Service Authority of Prince William County.

The city’s sewage is handled by the Upper Occoquan Service Authority. (UOSA )

 Q-What’s that $26 UOSA fee I see on my bill each month?

A. The city has been charging this fee for about three years. The $26 can be thought of as a “capacity fee,” Johnson said.

 Manassas Park buys a certain percentage of the total water capacity of Prince William County and Manassas.  The same goes for UOSA, Johnson said.  That percentage is our “capacity,” hence the term, capacity fee.

The $26 is a portion of the fixed costs Manassas Park pays to maintain the same percentage of the total water from the county and Manassas and the same percentage of the total sewer service of UOSA, he said. 

 Think of the water capacity from Prince William and Manassas as a pizza pie: Manassas Park residences and businesses pay $26 a month to get and keep the same size slice of pie.

 Q-Why doesn’t Manassas Park have its own water?

A-At one point, some of the city was serviced by its own wells, but changes to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules and compliance with Safe Drinking Water Act regulations mandated that the city treat its water, which is a very costly process, Johnson said.

 On top of that, wells can’t produce the volume of water needed to fight large fires, he said.

“The city being as small as it is (and) have its own water treatment or sewage treatment, the cost would be astronomical,” Johnson said.

As a result, the wells were closed and the city began purchasing its water.

Q-I live in Manassas Park and I don’t want to pay for water anymore, can I have my own private well and septic system installed?

A-No. It is against the law to dig your own well in Manassas Park. Other Northern Virginia Communities have simliar regulations, city officials said.

Residents aren't permitted to install their own septic tanks, either.

 Q- So what exactly is the problem with Manassas Park's water and sewage system?

 A-The city is losing some 390 gallons of water per minute and they don’t know where the unaccounted for water is escaping from or where it’s going, Johnson and Manassas Park city manager Jim Zumwalt told city council during

The missing water has cost the city about $896,000 a  year  in the past four years, Zumwalt said.

Public works officials aren’t sure if the water is actually leaking out, if it is a billing or metering issue or a combination of both.

 Q-What’s being done to rectify the problem?

A-The city’s water problem isn’t one that can be “ easily fixed” per se, according to city officials.

It’s a complicated issue, but city employees said they are working to make the system operate more efficiently.  

 “It’s got multiple parts,” Johnson said. “One part is going out and doing field investigations.”

 Public works has started a Leak Detection Program to look for the unaccounted for water, he said.

 “It’s a process of elimination, it’s probably multiple factors,” Johnson said. “Some leaks are within the city, some (are) at the service connections and at main (lines) that transmit the water.”

 Water leaking out of pipes makes a distinctive sound, so workers use a sensitive audio device —a type of “sophisticated stethoscope,” to  check for leaks, Johnson said.

Once the leak is identified, teams verify that there is, in fact, a leak and repairs are scheduled, he said.

 The city has found, “quite a few” service connections leaks, as many of these connections were installed in the 1950s and are old, he said.

A couple of dozen fixes have taken place since the spring, Johnson said.

 Leaking water can eventually go into the city’s sewer lines. This causes a noticeable increase in flow; so workers check the city’s sewer pipes with a camera, he said.  

 Interconnections where the water comes into the city from Manassas and Prince William County are being examined to make sure the meters are accurate and the city is being billed correctly by the two entities.

 City officials are also examining some 4,000 Manassas Park water accounts to make sure residents and businesses aren’t being under billed.  Billing errors could make it appear that the city is losing water, when it’s really a miscalculation. 

Accounts that appear questionable are red flagged for further investigation, Johnson said.

“It’s an ongoing problem; it’s not something that can be solved,” he said. “We can’t just say. Ah! That’s it. It doesn’t work that way.”

 Even if public works employees begin tighten up the system by repairing leaks, that will increase the pressure and the water will still seep from weaker areas within the system, he said.

 That’s why it’s wise to do assessments to determine where the city’s money should be spent so we can get the most benefit out of it, Johnson said.

“If you don’t do it correctly, you can spend a lot of money in the wrong direction,” he said.

 Once you get a handle on the unaccounted for water, then you can use Capital Improvement Project funds to service the system, Johnson said.

Q-So is it the leaks or accounting errors that are causing the city to lose money?

 A-“It is impossible to say conclusively what the problem is because it’s a combination of things,” Johnson said. “You have to take all the difference parts and evaluate it … it’s got so many moving parts.”

 What is the status of the city’s utility budget?

The city has been operating its utility budget in the red for years, Zumwalt told the governing body in April.

 The city was taking one-time revenue from tap (connection) fees and using it to subsidize operations.

 The city is spending about $1.5 million more than it makes each year and if it keeps it up, all the money in its “spendable” fund will be gone in three years or less, Zumwalt said.

 A utility rate increase could eliminate the $1.5 million operating shortfall, he said.

Controlling the leaks could save about $1 million a year and the city should be spending about $1 million a year to reduce leakage, he said.

 The city not only has to stop operating in the red, but start operating in the black and start putting money aside for big capital projects, Johnson said.

 You can’t rebuild your city overnight and fix all of its problems, Johnson said.

The city must plan 10 to 15 years out and pace itself, he said.

 Q-Will Manassas Park water bills really increase?

A-Probably.

 Q-When and how much?

A-It is not clear when.  Manassas Park Public Works and Finance departments are teaming up to do a rate study, Johnson said.

“Whenever you are going to increase a rate, you better do your due diligence and go through (the details),” he said. " ... Strict attention to detail is mandatory."

Before a water rate increase can be decided upon, officials must take into account such things as the rate of inflation and  the amount connection fees, Johnson said.

 The first draft of the rate study should be done this month, he said.  It’ll probably take about 30 days to get preliminary results.

After that, a rate model can be created, he said.

“Then we can meet with the governing body and say, ‘ How aggressively does the governing body want to proceed with the recommendation for reducing the amount of unaccounted for water versus recommended rates for its citizens?’” Johnson said.

The governing body needs to complete an initial assessment of the water rate and then do an update every one or two years, he said.

 A rate assessment will determine how much of an increase the city’s residences and businesses will see and when.

A large portion of Manassas Park is residential.  If the city had more businesses, it may be able to keep the cost down, Johnson said.  Businesses are charged more for water and sewer because they consume more.

 Q-Will the city keep us posted on the water issue?

A-Yes.  The governing body will get a quarterly report on the water and sewer system.

“When we do the first quarterly report, it will be our first true assessment on what we feel and what we found and what our plans are and what do we think the corrections will be,” Johnson said.

 A date hasn’t been set for the first quarterly assessment, he said.

 In the future, Johnson said city officials will begin educating residents on ways they can save water and money, Johnson said.