Emily Featherston
The Birmingham Water Works Board reduced the classification of the area's drought to Stage 2 almost a month ago, but they're still working to make sure Birmingham doesn't run out of water, Darryl Jones, assistant general manager of BWWB, said.
Jones gave a presentation to the Vestavia Hills City Council at Monday night's work session, reflecting on the drought and looking forward to projects the board is currently involved in.
Jones began by reminding the council that the area is still in a drought, and by walking them through a brief history of the water system in Jefferson County, explaining how the system feeds from the various water sources around the region.
When the major pumping stations and main lines were constructed over the last century, Jones explained that much of the over-the-mountain area was undeveloped.
“South of [Interstate] 459 didn’t exist 50 years ago,” he said.
As most people know, Vestavia Hills, Hoover, Mountain Brook and the other communities south of Birmingham are all provided water primarily through Lake Purdy. While the system is set up to handle that demand in a normal year, Jones said the highest-demand area being served by the smallest lake in the system leads to major issues during peak usage times and seasons of drought.
“This is the thirsty part of the system,” he said.
However, Jones thinks people don't know is that the majority of the county, geographically, is served by lakes and rivers in the north, including Inland Lake and the Warrior River.
These pumping stations and lines were designed to service the major industry and factories in north Birmingham during the height of the 20th century, and aren't connected to the southern part of the county.
Additionally, the significant changes in elevation in southern Jefferson County make moving water more difficult.
“It takes us a lot to move this water around,” Jones said, "We have a very complex water system.”
Jones also went back through the final months of 2016 and further detailed the drought, showing the council graphs indicating the lake levels, including when Lake Purdy got as low as 20 feet. He also showed how the BWWB's efforts to encourage conservation and pull water from wells helped.
Finally, Jones walked the council through what the BWWB calls the "Carson Loop," which would bring clean drinking water south from Inland Lake via the Carson processing plant and eastern Jefferson County, eventually meeting up with the over-the-mountain area at the rear of Liberty Park and Highway 119.
But projects of the size of the loop, which includes multiple phases, take time and funds, Jones said, so working through the red tape and costs will take time in order to keep water rates from skyrocketing.
“It takes a lot just to put a pipeline in,” he said.
At the work session, the Council also:
- Heard presentations from two cellular infrastructure companies hoping to install small "micro towers" to boost cell signals in the area.
- Discussed an economic incentive agreement with the Slice Pizza development. The agreement would incentivize the developers to go above-and-beyond when creating infrastructure in order to provide for future development in the Blue Lake area.
- Heard a report from City Manager Jeff Downes about a request for land conveyance to the Board of Education at Vestavia Hills elementary schools West and Cahaba Heights.
