Hilldale
Water District (HWD), located in Warren
County, Mississippi was incorporated as a customer owned non-profit
water
utility in 1965 serving 176 customers with 209 taps. In the early
years,
Hilldale had a single simple treatment plant sourced by three wells.
After
aeration and chlorination treatment, a single 100,000 gallon elevated
tank
stored the District's potable water. Another 100,000 gallon elevated
tank and a
second treatment plant was added in 1981, because of
residential-growth. This
second treatment plant included the added feature of pressure filters
for iron
removal. In 1992, pressure filters were also added to the original
treatment
plant facility.
Several
severe ice storms
in the 1990's, caused HWD to lose electrical power and pipes at the
treatment
plants to freeze, thus total loss of ability to supply water to its
customers.
HWD recognized the need for backup electric power generators. Soon
afterward,
backup power generators were added to keep the water flowing during any
emergency outage. After another severe ice storm and Hurricanes Katrina
and
Rita, the generators more than paid for the investment. It has been
very
re-assuring to Hilldale and to its customers that loss of water supply
and
water pressure due to power outages is in the past.
'HWD-certificated-area'
is
not blessed with the best underground water source supply, in that our
raw
water is highly concentrated with dissolved mineral solids. These
source-water
challenges have been vigorously addressed. In 1993, HWD installed the
first of
two Electro Dialysis Reversal (EDR) Units, as a much needed additional
treatment process. The EDRs are designed to remove excess dissolved
mineral
solids. The additional advanced treatment provided by the EDR units has
greatly
improved the quality of water and has also prolonged the life of many
residential hot water heaters and icemakers, as well as improved the
flow
through our distribution lines. The customers, especially those with
HWD since
the early years, were more than pleased with the additional EDR
treatment.
During
1998, HWD started
reclaiming the water used in the backwashing of the pressure filters
process.
This reclaimed water is allowed to settle in a 20,000 gallon tank.
After
clarification the supernatant water is recycled into the ground
storage. The
remaining sludge (primarily iron oxides) is then drained into a HWD
specially-designed drying bed. The sludge is allowed to effectively
air-dry.
Then it is physically removed, properly stored and then annually
transported
for disposal at an approved disposal facility. It is believed that this
HWD-designed treatment process is the first of its kind, at least in
Mississippi.
HWD
implemented the use of
hand held computer meter readers and accompanying billing system in
1999. These
devices have improved the accuracy of the monthly meter readings and
have made
the billing process more efficient and accurate. Since 2002, HWD has
added a
200,000 gallon elevated tank, four new wells and an automated
Supervisory
Controls and Data Acquisition (SCADA) control system.
Today,
HWD features
state-of-art automated process controls, appreciable wells and storage,
novel
treatment processes, power-outage-assured distribution of high quality
potable
water consistently delivered on-demand to customers/owners. Postured
with
400,000 gallons of elevated storage and nearly 200,000 gallons in
ground
storage, and with eight wells supplying two advanced treatment plants,
HWD is
positioned to more than consistently supply its 1775 customers with
high
quality potable water. Even with this capacity and well-thought and
design-engineered water treatment and distribution capabilities, HWD
continues
to improve, innovate, and effectively complete short, mid-term and long
range
plans as scheduled and as budgeted. The latest customer approved
projections,
for the Year 2020, are being planned, designed, initiated and some even
implemented now.