Engineers flag MUD’s next pressure point

Engineers credit rehab work with stormwater reductions, then point to pump station at Woodard’s as next hard fix

9:32 p.m. June 9, 2026

DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor

The Metro Utility Department has cut more than 107,000 gallons of stormwater from its sewer system after a two-inch rain event, but engineers told MUD board members Tuesday, June 9, that one critical piece of the system is still showing strain: the pump station at Woodard’s.

The station moves all sewer flow toward the wastewater treatment plant. In the department’s asset management plan, engineers said it ranks second only to the treatment plant itself.

“If that goes down, you have zero backup,” Matt Williamson with LJA Engineering told the board. “There is no backup to that.”

The warning came in a report that carried both good news and a hard next step. The utility’s recent sewer rehabilitation work is paying off. Less rainwater is getting into the system. But the parts still struggling are important, and the pump station appears to be at the top of the list.

Rehab work shows real gains

Olivia Yates, who helped prepare the post-rehabilitation flow monitoring analysis for LJA, presented the findings. The study compared current flow data with pre-rehabilitation data collected in 2020.

The goal was to measure how much rainwater, known in the sewer business as inflow and infiltration, still gets into the system.

Yates said the work showed real improvement.

The biggest gain came in the Jack Daniel’s basin, where engineers reported a 73% reduction in rainwater entering the system during a two-inch storm. Basin 102X, on the east side of Fayetteville Highway, dropped below the industry threshold by 50%. Basin 120, which runs from the Moore County High School area toward midtown, improved by 27%, though engineers said the northern portion near the high school still needs more investigation.

“So again, significant improvement there,” Yates told the board.

Overall, engineers said the rehabilitation work removed about 107,200 gallons of rainwater from the sewer system in the first 24 hours after a two-inch storm.

Every gallon kept out of the sewer system is one less gallon MUD has to move, treat, and pay for.

Dry weather, real warning signs

There was one catch: The study period was dry.

The data was collected from early December through the end of March. Yates said this year’s study included 13 storms, but only one was about one inch and another was about two inches.

By comparison, the 2020 study included seven storms greater than one inch, including two storms greater than three inches.

“This is a considerably drier period that we analyzed here,” Yates said.

Even then, the system showed stress.

In Basin 120, engineers saw signs of surcharge during the largest storm event. A surcharge happens when flow exceeds the pipe’s capacity and backs up into the system.

In Basin 102X and Basin 124, engineers saw more signs of backwater and surcharge near the pump station at Woodard’s.

“We see more instances of that capacity limitation,” Yates said of Basin 102X. “Lots more incidences of surcharge.”

The assessment recommended by engineers would help determine whether the problem is with the pump station itself, the force main that carries flow away from it, or both.

‘Zero backup’ at Woodard’s

Williamson said the station is already known to leak during rain events. That allows rainwater to enter the wet well, creating backwater that can push back into the sewer system.

“There’s issues at Woodard’s Pump Station,” he said. “In a dry period, it’s really not carrying the capacity that you would need.”

He said the state generally wants utilities to look at a two-year, 24-hour storm, which he said is closer to four inches of rain. The recent data did not include a storm that large, so engineers were careful not to overstate projections. But the warning still landed.

“It is a critical asset that you have in your system,” he said.

Utility manager Ronnie Cunningham said the department already knows where part of the problem is.

“We know it’s leaking down there where the invert comes into the bottom of the lift station,” he said. “When it creeps up, you pump it down and see the water coming in around the bottom of the lift station.”

Asked about the plan, Cunningham kept it blunt: “Our plan is to try to fix it.”

The problem, he added, is that the station may not be deep enough to function the way the department needs it to. Board members and engineers discussed the possibility of a deeper wet well or a broader station fix.

Asked for a rough cost estimate, Williamson said a pump station fix could land between $500,000 and $750,000, with engineering costs likely adding another 5% to 10%.

It was not a final estimate, but it was enough to start planning.

Williamson recommended using one budget year for planning and the next for construction, giving the board time to determine the scope, cost, and timing before sending the project out.

The board took no final action on a pump station project Tuesday, but the discussion made clear that the issue is moving higher on the department’s list.

Water-loss questions remain

The sewer system was not the only place where MUD is chasing water.

Board members also discussed an outside review by Cameron Ray, who has been helping office staff work through reports, software, and billing issues. According to board member Greg Guinn, Ray reviewed a five-day sample comparing the raw water pumped, the treated water, and the water used.

The numbers raised concern.

Guinn said the report showed an average variance of 150,000 to 300,000 gallons per day between treated water and used water. “I’m a numbers guy,” he said. “I can’t get over one – 150 to 300.”

At the low end, Guinn said that would amount to about 4.5 million gallons per month. In the middle of the range, it could be between 6 and 7 million gallons.

Board members stressed that the variance may not mean all of that water is physically leaking out of the system. Some of it could involve meter readings, software timing, billing adjustments, or other data issues.

Still, no one brushed it aside.

Old galvanized lines draw attention

The Booneville area came up repeatedly, along with older galvanized lines around Chapman Acres and nearby areas. Cunningham said some leaks can be heard with listening equipment, but they do not always surface. That makes them hard to pinpoint without digging up long sections of old lines.

“It ain’t coming up top of the ground,” Cunningham said. “Ain’t none of them coming to the top of the ground.”

Engineer Bryant Griffin explained the problem with the old pipe this way: fixing one bad spot can simply move the leak to the next weak spot. “If you replace it here, the leak just moves right down,” he said. “It just goes to the next weakest point.”

By the end of the discussion, the board asked Cunningham and Griffin to begin putting together a plan. They discussed identifying the length of the old line involved, the line size needed, and whether the work should be contracted out.

“That’s going to be the only way we’re going to fix it,” Cunningham said.

Board members also discussed a longer-term need to remove galvanized pipe from the system. Board Chair Barry Posluszny noted that the department has several years to address it, but added that it should not be pushed too far down the road.

“That’s not something I would wait on year five to start,” he said.

Rate classifications spark debate

The board also returned to a thorny rate question: who belongs in residential, and who belongs in commercial?

Several accounts, including businesses, churches, and public buildings, are still listed as residential even though board members said they may not fit there under current guidance.

The sticking point was churches and government buildings. Guinn said he would not vote to move churches unless the guidance specifically named them. Posluszny said the guidance covered nonprofits and institutions.

“Churches are classified as nonprofit,” he said.

The board also discussed whether changing the courthouse or other public buildings to commercial rates would simply move taxpayer money from one pocket to another.

“If we charge the courthouse commercial rates, that’s our taxes,” board member Glen Thomas said.

At one point, Posluszny said he was not creating the rule, only trying to bring the unresolved accounts back to the board.

“I’m not making this up,” he said. “I have no dog in this fight.”

The board ultimately voted to move forward with the list before it, with Greg Guinn, Charles Johnston, Barry Posluszny, Darrel Richards, and Glen Thomas voting yes.

Other projects move forward

The board also heard updates on other utility projects.

• Griffin said the survey is back for the Highway 82 pump station, giving engineers what they need to begin design when the board is ready. He also said design work on the ARPA water line replacement project in the Hurdlow area is finished and should be submitted later this week.

• Griffin said he had contacted Allie Richman regarding the water plant land purchase and, after speaking with Mayor Sloan Stewart, Cunningham, and others, told her the terms were acceptable. He said the next step would be moving forward once he hears back.

• Cunningham also told the board the department’s new Kamstrup meters have been installed, though some antennas still need to be mounted so they can report properly.

The remaining problem sounded small, but it has slowed the work: plastic nuts. Cunningham said crews are still trying to locate the plastic nuts needed to attach antennas to meter lids.

“They can’t find them unless you buy the whole antenna,” he said.

• Thomas asked whether the utility should look at moving away from QuickBooks and back to local government accounting software. The discussion was tied to concerns that multiple systems are not communicating cleanly, which may be contributing to reporting problems. He wants the department to look into the change, not necessarily make it immediately.

By the end of the meeting, the board had a full plate: sewer capacity, water loss, old pipe, rate classifications, software, and a pump station with no backup.

The sewer rehab work gave MUD something real to point to. More than 107,000 gallons of stormwater removed from the system after a two-inch storm is not a small gain.

But Tuesday’s meeting also made clear the next chapter will be harder.

The leaks that are left are tougher to find. The lines are older. The pump station is critical. And the fixes will not be cheap.