Polk County maps future main water trunk lines

Published 10:00 pm Wednesday, June 24, 2015

A map of where future main water lines could be located in Polk County. (Map by Odom & Associates Engineering, Inc.)

Polk County now has a visual of where its future main water lines should be located in order to create a looped system within the county.

County commissioners met June 15 and heard from engineer Dave Odom, whose firm created a new map showing where the main trunk lines should be located.

Odom suggested the county create an eastern and western corridor, to run parallel with the county’s current Hwy. 108 line that runs up the middle of the county and connects all the towns to the county’s system.

The east side would connect by Jackson Grove Road down to the county’s main 20-inch water line that runs through Green Creek to the Inman-Campobello Water District (ICWD). The west side would connect through Solen Williams Road to an interconnect at Poors Ford Road. Those connections would loop above the county via Pea Ridge Road and Big Level Road, which would connect with the county’s most recent extension along Hwy. 9 in Sunny View to Big Level Road. The future main line would continue from Big Level Road to Coopers Gap Road, Lake Adger and Silver Creek Roads back to the intersection of Hwy. 9 and Hwy. 108 where the main line through the middle of the county already exists. The line would continue to Fox Mountain Road, Smith Dairy and Red Fox roads, then connect to the 20-inch main line from Jackson Grove Road.

“In my opinion, this is your major trunk system,” said Odom. “You already have the spine going up the middle, so this completes the loops on the outer side.”

Odom told commissioners with the loop, Sandy Plains Road could easily be connected with Jackson Grove Road and then that entire area can be covered with water lines.

Hwy. 108 would then be interconnected with a loop, Odom said, instead of just a spine going out through the county. Odom also said this loop would provide additional water service to the Lake Adger community.

Odom said the county doesn’t have to commit to those exact roads, but in general a western and eastern corridor is needed.

“Because you don’t know, and can’t necessarily predict where the demands are going to come from,” said Odom.

Odom said what the map does not include is where the booster pumps and the additional water storage tank will be located, which will be needed.

“You’re going to have water that flows both directions a lot of different ways as this system develops out,” Odom said.

Commissioner chair Tom Pack said with a looped system, if one water line went down for some reason the county would be able to pump around the line and not lose the entire water system while repairs are being made.

Odom said Pack is exactly right. He said currently if the county needs repairs at the top of the system, the entire system has to be shut down to make repairs for a brief time.

“Once we get this loop in we’ve got multiple paths to feed,” Odom said. “You won’t just have this loop, you’ll have interconnects at several locations. You’ll be able to meet all kinds of future demand.”

Commissioner Keith Holbert asked if the future main lines need to be 20-inch lines.

Odom said, no, they can be smaller, more like 12 and 16-inch lines.

Odom said the downside of putting huge lines in first are that you have to dump tons of water until you get the usage, unless you have a loop system.

Funding for what the future water lines would cost was not mentioned. Commissioners said last month they wanted a map of where the county’s future main trunk lines should be located while working on a contract with ICWD to possibly share water resources. Part of the proposed contract is for ICWD to pay for installing water lines within Polk County.

The map was Odom’s last project contracted with Polk County after 10 years of being the county’s engineer. Polk County is now working with ICWD to install water lines, including the engineering of the lines.

Odom told commissioners last week that he enjoyed working with the county over the last 10 years.

“I did want to say we’re ending our 10-years as engineer under contract and I wanted to say I enjoyed thoroughly working with each and every one of you and the ones that came before you too,” Odom said. “So thank you very much.”