Water plant chief talks disaster preparedness with council | Local News

Chief Water Plant Operator Paul Wood said several things set Murray apart from cities that have had water shortages, including redundant high-service pumps and a newly installed standby generator. 

“Jackson’s pumps failed to fill the water tower and pressurize the system,” Wood said. “Their plant treats water from the river, making them very prone to flooding. We have redundant raw water wells, and during this current (electrical) project, we’re installing standby generators at every well.” 

Wood said Jackson’s system was unprepared for a crisis, noting that in 2021, residents were under a boil water advisory for more than 200 days. He said Murray has more than 2 million gallons of underground storage at the water plant alone, and the plant is constantly making improvements.

“At the Murray Water Plant, we’ve been in construction for pretty much the whole time I’ve been supervisor, almost six years,” Wood said. “We’ve gone through the clearwell and pump station project, and now we’re addressing all the aging electrical (equipment with) the electrical upgrade project. All these improvements are a step in the right direction toward resilience from these natural disasters.”

While answering several questions from the council, Jackson said Murray’s water source is the McNairy aquifer. He said the plant pumps an average of 3.6 million gallons a day, and during the summer, the total sometimes gets up to almost 5 million.

Discussing maintenance, Wood said the plant just had its tanks inspected, and it is a good idea to have them washed out and inspected every five years.

Wood also updated the council on the water plant’s electrical improvements. He said the old high-service pumps, motors, electrical cabinets and piping have been removed from the old high-service pump room that is attached to the administrative office, and all that is left for removal is six water valves and the old generator’s switchgear that will be removed at the end of the project after Murray Electric System moves primary service to the new electrical building.

Of course, the water plant is not immune from the same trouble that have caused difficulty for so many government entities and other organizations since the beginning of the pandemic, and Wood addressed that as well.

“As you all are already aware, supply chain issues have plagued this project from the very beginning,” Wood said. “We’re still waiting on some critical equipments, (including) the prefabricated electrical building, which we’re expecting to see next month. The four standby generators for all the wells are also expected next month, and then remote terminal unit cabinets that are used to communicate with equipment throughout the system – unknown delivery date on that, but I hope to see a delivery date at the next meeting.”

The council approved the second reading of an ordinance to repeal several sections of the city’s cable television ordinance and to repeal and replace several sections of the ordinance relating to communication services. City Administrator Jim Osborne said the Cable Commission has been working for a couple of years to update its franchise agreements.

“The old ordinance, which was 20 years old, was a cable ordinance,” Osborne said. “This ordinance will be a communications franchise ordinance, so it will cover a variety of communications as companies come into Murray.”