Southern Wayne Sanitary District receives recognition
By Staff Reports
Published in News on August 4, 2010 1:46 PM
DUDLEY -- The Southern Wayne Sanitary District has received the Spirit Award from the North Carolina Rural Water Association.
According to the association, the award recognizes a water system that demonstrates "outstanding concern" for the water industry and for its customers.
The winning system also sets an example by finding innovative ways to improve to the point that it is a role model for other systems. Another requirement that the system must meet is having an "outstanding" compliance records with the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
The Southern Wayne Sanitary District was established in 1973 to serve the needs of residents in the southern Wayne County area. It started with one well and 600 customers.
Today it has seven wells and more than 2,600 residential customers as well as several agriculture, industrial and commercial facilities.
Its residential fire protection provides a flow of 750 gallons per minutes and hydrants are located every 800 feet.
A five-member nonpartisan board governs the system. The members serve four-year terms.
In 2007, the district built a new administrative office facility that was paid for without financing.
The district water rates have remained the same since July 2003.
"The district always examines the needs of the water system to anticipate rising updates to the system," said Chet Whitman, district board chairman. "Recently, a radio-read meter reading system was implemented to provide safer meter reading for the servicemen and provide a leak detection system to help notify customers of high usage.
"Southern Wayne Sanitary District is in the process of recycling our backwash water, exploring for new well sites, and is looking at ways to expand our sewage collection system."
Whitman said the district is always looking at ways to implement standards to sustain the district and community.
He noted that during floods and hurricanes that the district's customers had never been without water.
"This is because of good planing and the best construction possible," he said.