The West Alabama Regional Commission (WARC) manages water and sewer related grants on a regular basis. These grants address the historical deficits in water and sewer service in our region that can hinder economic development. To assist the agency with applying for and managing these grants, as well as for regional economic planning, the West Alabama Regional Water and Sewer System Inventory was developed. The inventory has been used by the agency for at least 25 years to provide a quick reference for information on each water and sewer system in the seven-county region. The water and sewer grants spur economic development as well as increase quality of life because adequate water and sewer service is vital to commerce and industry.

The regional water and sewer inventory captures the extent and capacity of water and wastewater system infrastructure in the seven counties covered by the West Alabama Regional Commission. It contains data such as the number customers served by each system (split by whether they are residential or commercial), the capacity of the system, and the miles of pipe in the water distribution system among many other metrics, including rates for service. This basic information provides a snapshot of the system. When available, this data is paired with maps showing the geographical extent of the infrastructure of the water and sewer systems. The maps vary in detail and completeness based on the data available for each water or wastewater system.

The inventory was updated regularly until the Covid-19 pandemic lead to reduced staffing at WARC. With reduced capacity, no concerted effort was made to update the inventory between 2018 and 2023. During this time, the State of Alabama channeled its ARPA funding through the State Revolving Loan Fund to offer forgivable loans for water and sewer systems. This funding availability encouraged many systems to apply for water and sewer grants. In fall of 2023, WARC was able to refresh the data that made up the Water and Sewer Inventory. The main task of this update was to meet with each system in the west Alabama region to confirm or update their existing information and ask additional questions about the current condition of their systems.

The first step in the process of updating the inventory was to research and compile publicly available official documentation from the Alabama Department of Emergency Management eFile web application. This included each system’s permits, inspection letters, operating reports, and discharge reports. This documentation contained information about the system that served as a baseline to compare with the previous entries in the water and sewer inventory. After examining the official documentation, each water and wastewater system was contacted by phone or email to set up meetings with the system operator. During these visits, WARC reviewed the inventory data with each operator, asked the operator additional questions about the system, and obtained customer numbers and a rate sheet from each water clerk. WARC also took these meetings as an opportunity to update the map of each system.

There are opportunities to expand upon the inventory. First, the Regional Commission could collect additional details from the water systems. This would provide WARC with more data for grant writing and economic development planning. However, it would also require more time and engagement from the systems, who may not be willing. Second, WARC can incorporate more of the inventory into the CEDS. This can include reporting on and mapping the coverage of water and sewer in the region, the inclusion of source and usage information for each water system, and system resilience reports for water and sewer. It is also possible to inventory other resources such as natural gas, electricity, roadway conditions, and broadband. However, many of these are inventoried by other entities and the rest are not advantageous for WARC to inventory at this time.

One challenge that WARC encountered in this project is that the operators were difficult to contact. Many of the operators do not have a desk or an office phone. This presented a challenge as the only available contacts were billing clerks for most of the systems. It was often necessary to get the personal contact information of operators from the billing clerks.

There are several lessons that other EDDs can learn from this experience. One lesson is that the billing clerk and the system operator have separate spheres of work and it is important to talk with both to have a complete picture of the system. Another lesson is that gathering accurate and complete information is a long process. It took an average of nearly 3 hours per system to perform the update. This inventory was funded through programmatic funds from the Delta Regional Authority as well as volunteered intern time at WARC. This internship provided an opportunity for a more thorough than usual update than the limited staff capacity WARC allows. The unique circumstances of fall 2023 allowed for a useful refresh for the Water and Sewer Inventory.