STAMPING GROUND, Ky. (LEX 18) — A resident in Scott County is voicing his frustration that he can't get a water connection. Jamie Phelps said he was in the right place at the right time when he bought his property on 28 acres in 2021 on Long Lick Road, but now has major concerns after talks with Georgetown.
He recently moved from Crittenden.
"I have to haul water for now. When I talked to Georgetown Water, they can't give me an answer when they even suspect to have water," Phelps said.
Jamie said he received this response from the city on July 7:
"The assistant there took my name and number and what the problem was. She didn't have a clue that Georgetown Water was denying people out in rural areas on this road, denying them water. She said she would take it to the mayor," Phelps noted.
Phelps heard from Georgetown Water Thursday, July 17, and a spokesperson told him a rise in population in the county is contributing to the issue.
With no time frame from the city when he'll receive water, Jamie says he isn't the only one on Long Lick Pike dealing with this problem.
"From what Georgetown Water told me, there's four other people not counting me," Phelps said.
Phelps bought two IBC totes, 250 gallons apiece in the meantime.
"I go to my mother's and put a filter on the outside spigot and fill 'em up," Phelps noted.
He does that twice a week.
"It's a big impact, you know, I could be doing other things," Phelps said.
Like building a house. Phelps wants to start doing that next week, but feels like he's in a holding pattern.
We reached out to the city for comment and their chief administrative officer referred us to Chase Azevedo, the general manager of GMWSS.
Through an email, LEX 18 listed Phelps' concerns.
When Jamie initially reached out to LEX18, he said several people who have just built homes on Long Lick Road can't get water, and that Georgetown Water won't allow new connections saying it
stems from the contractor and new treatment plant plans.
Furthermore, he noted that $1 million had to be spent to make corrections, basically destroying their budget.
Another detail notes there are $300,000 to $500,000 homes being built out Long Lick saying none of these people will be able to get water service.
When it comes to new water connections in that area, Phelps said the pipes are too small adding that the city could put in new pipes to fix the problem, but can't afford to do it.
Azevedo responded to LEX18 with this statement:
"It is difficult to “unpack” the many issues mentioned below. While there are some challenges within our service area, as there are in every utility service area across the Country, none of the issues stand as they are described. The person you talked to is combining multiple issues that are unrelated, and some facts definitely need to be cleared up," Azevedo said.
Azevedo later sent answers to a few of our questions via email:
The gentleman we spoke with who lives on Long Lick Road is in the 4300 block. He told me someone from GMWSS yesterday told him that the difficulty getting a water connection to his property stems from the county's rise in population. Is that true? Is the city behind schedule getting to some areas to establish a connection? If so, how far behind schedule?
Long Lick Road is located with the GMWSS Burton Tank pressure zone in the drinking water service area. In the late 1990’s, Scott County Judge Executive, George Lusby, and the Scott County Fiscal Court (SCFC) prioritized establishing domestic water service for all property throughout Scott County. Judge Lusby and the SCFC desired to provide their constituents an option for clean, affordable drinking water beyond what they could source from wells and cisterns. This effort was related to domestic (drinking) service, not fire protection. In 1997 and 2000, Judge Lusby and the SCFC secured grant funding to construct distribution network improvements across northern Scotty County, including what would become the Burton Tank pressure zone. That infrastructure was dedicated to GMWSS for operation and ownership. Additionally, GMWSS completed capital improvements projects on the distribution network. Those infrastructure improvements included construction of waterlines, a booster pump, and an elevated storage tank.
Since that time, significant growth has occurred across northern Scott County. The Georgetown Municipal Water and Sewer Service (GMWSS) Engineering Department has received numerous subdivision plats separating larger tracts of land into smaller parcels. More and more houses have been and continue to be constructed in northern Scott County. These additional connections and resulting demand have consumed the available water capacity created by the referenced projects completed in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. As a result of steady increased demand, now, GMWSS must carefully monitor this part of the distribution network to ensure proper service to existing customers.
GMWSS is planning for near-term, intermediate-term, and long-term upgrades to help alleviate these concerns.
In the near-term, GMWSS operations and engineering staff are analyzing operational measures to improve system efficiency and allow for additional connections in the referenced area. These operational measures include, but not limited to, how/when elevated storage tanks are filled and drained and how/when a booster pump station is utilized, and are already showing increased operational system efficacy that should allow for additional connections. In the intermediate-term, GMWSS (and its hydraulic modeling/analysis engineer) is conducting hydraulic analysis of the referenced portion of the distribution network to determine and define capital improvement project(s) that can be implemented over time to further increase GMWSS’ ability to meet the request for additional water demand. GMWSS has applied for and received funding through the state legislature for this engineering analysis work. In the long-term, GMWSS is examining long-term water supply and delivery options for its entire service area in Georgetown and Scott County, KY.
These efforts are on-going. Should a developer or property owner wish to receive service now, ahead of funded operational and capital improvements, he or she can always fund improvements that benefit their own specific project. By GMWSS policy, GMWSS does not fund infrastructure for new development. Within the GMWSS service areas for water and sanitary sewer, growth pays for growth. In other words, existing GMWSS customers do not fund capital improvements through their rates that benefit new development projects.
Are other residents in that block of Long Lick unable to get a water connection? If so, what issues are they expressing to the city?
See previous answer.
Are any of the challenges you mentioned related to the city's budget?
No. While GMWSS is owned by the City of Georgetown, its budget is based on utility rates and is independent from the City’s budget.
What are some of the challenges within your service area?
As with any water and/or sanitary sewer utility, GMWSS faces challenges related to every-change regulatory climate, infrastructure renewal, rising material/equipment/chemical prices, and finding qualified staff to perform our essential, life-sustaining services.
What facts would you like to clear up "due to the complexity of these claims," as you put it?
Water service issues are independent of costs of the on-going Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) No. 1 Upgrade and Expansion project. Water and sanitary sewer service are based on separate rates as outlined in Water and Sewer Rate Ordinance (City of Georgetown 23-001). The WWTP project was discussed and debated in depth, over a number of months, in 2022 and 2023. The project is for treatment of wastewater and has no impact of the drinking water distribution network.
