Bardstown council working session examines future raw water sources

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011, 9:30 p.m.– The Bardstown City Council’s working session Tuesday was focused solely on examining the options for the city’s future water supply needs.

The council accepted a draft of an engineering study that estimates the county’s water needs 20 to 30 years from now, and offered options for meeting those needs. The study was prepared by Kenvirons, a Frankfort-based environmental and civil engineering firm. Vaughn Williams, a Kenvirons engineer, attended the meeting to review the draft study with the council.

The options for future water sources include the creation of a new reservoir(s),  adding new raw water supplies by pumping from another water source; or purchasing water from the Louisville Water Co.

Buying water from the Louisville Water Co. may look to be a cost-effective solution, but differences in how Louisville Water purifies and treats water make their water incompatible with the processes used at the Bardstown water treatment plant, Williams explained.

You can’t mix the two systems, he told the council.

To be compatible with Louisville water, the local water treatment plant would need to change its chlorination processes to match that of the Louisville water supplier, Williams said. The cost of that conversion would have to be added into the cost of buying the water.

Other options the study examined included waterways for potential new reservoirs that included:

• Buffalo Creek, which is the creek that feeds into Sympson Lake;
• the Beech Fork River;
• Tewell Creek, on the north side of US62 near Hardin Leslie Road;
• Sugar Creek, south of Bardstown along US 31E.

The study also examines the feasibility of pumping raw water to Sympson Lake from additional sources, including Taylorsville Lake and the Salt River.

Williams emphasized the study is a draft, and not the completed version. The draft was presented to the council in order to get their feedback as to the options they might prefer. Each option has its pluses and negatives, he explained said.

Williams declined to provide the media with copies of the study, explaining that they were drafts that would be later finalized.

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