Page 7 - West Virgina 811 Magazine 2018 Issue 4

coutd hetp wim training and technicat then 7 ruraI devetopment, new utitity 311, where they're added to the GIS
assistance," she said. "I atso created and instauations and other disruptions were mapping system mat covers the
conducted seminars, heIped systems rare And the water distiict manager whoIe state That makes assigning
work through the regutatory process knew the system Iike the back or his Iocate requests a snap tor can center
and educated systems on what they hand He Iikety instaIIed most of the emptoyees 7 which transtates into
had to do to he successtut ~ Iines himseti and knew where each a smoom process tor utitity owner/
She also Pmidzd the the gwemnp vatve and pipe was. operators and excavators atike.
appointed commissioners oi the not now naturaI gas pipes are being New Members

I>ubIic service commission advice and instaIIed across mrat west Virginia at .

__ _ . , . west Virginia 811 has wetcomed a Iot of

assistance in their dehberations during an impressive cIip, and it s ditiicutt to

h . g g . . new members in the Iast tew months,

er previous position protect what you don tknow is there
_ . and many of mem have been rurat
. Many of the most erpeiaenced water
Challenges fzcnlg rural wzlex water systems.
managers and operators have retired, or

Preventing damage to mrat water Iines are reaching retirement age. A new Iaw passed by the west virginia
is a rent chanenge tor severat reasons ,. _ . Iegistature Iast year requires each rurat

we have a tot of operators retiring 7
The nrst is the age at many of the . water association 7 no matter how

the Baby Iaoomer generation especiauy . .

systems There are more than zoo ruraI and other hmgum mmgm That smaII 7 to participate in WV811locate
water districts throughout the state immune”! kmwkdgz gmom um request system Until recentty many
of west virginia. and many of them dam Wm‘ ‘hem ,, 5,“ mid ’ water systems participated. but strictty
dale bark more than 100 yew — and ’ ’ ’ ‘ on a votunteerbasis, because there was
some are tar otdcr man that. And some "V V a carve-out in the Iaw that didn't make
originaI intrastructure is snu in use, tar | | 3, X\“ » I L1 \ ,- participation tor many water utilities
beyond the expected Iiiespan or most » ’ mandatory.
P‘P"'°‘5"“" YE“ (’l|-[1 I]|[(‘i'~ (’XIl(‘('I white therearenoannuatdues
"We have municipatities in west , associated with membership. a smaII
virginia that are more man zoo years (i I‘\"l “V I-4 i| H |,|4i tee is charged ior each ticket LhaI'~
old," she said. "It's not common, but generated in meir service area.
it's ha ened in the course of m career , . . I -
that 2>::vatur>}Ia\I2 found woofi \‘ <1 1“! «I I Gm-"s=v=rv'=°<‘v°"bwd\~’*"a°
water pipes that were shit in use It's . , . o I _ .“ '[°“g.t“’“Yf ‘°“’“l‘“‘}"“‘?f‘f:“‘5 ‘_“‘_
interesting to seehow mcy did things tl IIII ~ )1 I.) I .I \ \ tI ‘“ *5“ Y" "M ““ ‘“>‘ °"‘*'"‘
back Lhen_,, .. - _ WV81l provide‘: members rll1anyffi'E€

I. . _ resources to ie p eep pmp e sa e7as
Of course, the men who Iaid those ,\ ‘ “ i ~ A\ ” '.‘ *4 I‘ L weII as an opportunity to network with
wooden pipcs didn't add a tracer ~~r I -.| ‘ _ ~ I « i omer utihty stakehotders, excavators
wire in the ditch and might not have I I ‘_\ I I ‘ I I I t I 1 I I I and regutators mough damage
mapped mem accuratety, sohnes of I I . prevention councits.
that age are "discovered" by accident 7 [II II: “tux (I]|(>
usuatty damaged duiing 2><cnvatIon. Th‘ ‘°“““"‘ P“""“" “ .‘°’”"‘ ‘°’

_ p » ‘ I « _ I ~ member organizations in the utihty,
which bnngs us to the second ~I * I \ I ( t ~ ( I ~ I I I I II I < >1 I excavation and :on~1rucIIonInd\1~1nes,
chauenge in preventing damage to . . atong with other stakchotders to come
ruraI water tacihties: Lack of accurate I \ I I II iIt‘t' It It -1 I L together and work through issues
mapping. Amy said that over the years, and propose sotutions to keep west
a lot of the system» have been added «I I H I 1 yr ( , I.‘ V-1 Virginians safe and maintain reIiahIe
to, and the as-buitt maps aren't atways ‘ ._ utitities throughout the state.
accurate. Even more common is Iack ot , I .
maps a“ mgedm I I, I I It I I I y F?! most gmi w:‘.\t2‘1;‘,s‘);;t121l‘I'I.~', the (fat

oameme. ipo isquieow,

"A prohtem we've had is systems considering the benerits.
Iosing maps due to flooding,” Amy nut that knowtedge can be regained, in Um ‘ I L}. (
said "Maps are ireoiientty stored at part thanks to technotogy Tu counteract I“? E M E mm WP” '0"
gm Im.,,.o,., pm. 0, m 9.2 Im.omo,.. the Ioss or institutional knowiedge, art dfiflizguz gm Ink? PER Ewan;
of the umco, and WI.“ the map, on Amy and her organization have hosted ~ I E D mr 12 gm er 2 c mm
damaged] mm H ,, g2,,“,,m mg in “Pm ,mm who that costIy and inconvenient damage
5}‘ I 1 d 1 gives mrat water managers an idea of can be pm'»=n|ed-

e a so ci e piecemea expansion _ .
of Wmmfi as one Q‘ ‘hi chafing“, what klmd fif teclinnlogylh out them Iaetween the Rurat water Association
es eciau amon the oIder utitities “."d W ““ Ry Ea" d° l° '""’ [mm “d WW1” “"1 ‘”“‘“ P““"“‘“

P ‘ V 5 ’ hm — and -{lummly get them on a across the state have a pIethora oi
As these systems grew, most of the lines Permanent, digital map resources available to them to help
weren't mapped. There wasn't much gm new “no, hm hm, mapped, prevent damage and keep the water
need to keep track of the tines back my can be M“ ‘D we“ vugmm flW,.,,g ID, the W, gmmi..,.. .

em, am. 4 W:§rVIrgIrII1lE11 . 5