This week the Birmingham Water Works Board (BWWB) approved an $18.5 million pipeline project to transport water from northeastern reservoirs to customers on the southern end of their coverage area who get their water from Lake Purdy.

This project will be Phase 6D of the Carson Loop pipeline project that has been in progress for more than a decade according to previous BWWB meeting minutes.

In that time, the utility has spent over $33 million on the project and completed 16 different phases, or 34 miles of piping, according to BWWB spokesman Rick Jackson.

According to BWWB Assistant General Manager Derrick Murphy completion of this phase will help shield customers from the risk of drought.

“Lake Purdy is a critical water source for southern Jefferson and northern Shelby Counties and having water sources from other parts of the network will help shield the system from drought and will improve our overall distribution system,” said Murphy in a press release following this week’s meeting.

“This important infrastructure project is necessary to provide potable [drinkable] water from the Eastern High service area via the Carson Filter Plant to the Cahaba Valley service area and Shades Mountain Intermediate service area supplied by Shades Mountain Filter Plant. The project will reduce the raw water withdrawal at Lake Purdy during high demand periods and times of drought and will also provide operational flexibility and redundancy to the Cahaba and Shades Mountain service areas in the distribution system.”

According to this week’s press release this phase will consist of nearly 3,700 feet of 36-inch buried ductile iron cement lined pipe and fittings along from Grand River West to Floyd Bradford Road and Amber Hills Road. This project also includes a 600-foot-long pipe bridge over the Cahaba River, construction of an access roadway on both sides of the bridge, and “other related site improvements.”

“The completion of section 6D is a major milestone that will enable BWW to increase the supply of water to the distribution system,” said Jackson.

He previously said that the estimated completion time for the project is a little over a year from now. Local contractor The Russo Corporation was awarded the project as the lowest “responsible and responsive bidder” according to this week’s press release.

In fall of 2022 BWWB approved a Scope of Services with Alabama-based consultants Volkert, Inc. for engineering and monitoring of the construction of Carson Loop Phase 6D.

The board said that after this phase was completed there would be an evaluation of the project to see how effective it is and assess how many phases are left.

Jackson previously said BWWB plans to install similar piping in other locations in the future but the timing of this will be dependent on how much funding is required for other improvement projects in coming years.

He explained that allocation of funding in addition to obtaining permits, acquiring property and easements, and designing the phases are some of the reasons why Carson Loop has been such as lengthy process.

“The planning and installation of large transmission infrastructure across multiple city and county districts is complex and must be coordinated with the resources allocated for BWW’s capital improvement program,” said Jackson in a previous email to reporter with The Lede.

BWWB also plans to spend $2 million to repair the Lake Purdy Reservoir in 2023. As The Lede previously reported, the reservoir is over 100 years old and without significant repairs almost all BWWB customers’ water service could be impacted.

Both of these programs fall under BWWB’s 5-year strategic plan which focuses on improvement the six following areas according to the utility’s website:

· product quality

· workforce development

· fiscal health

· infrastructure stability

· customer service

· corporate governance

While BWWB plans for future improvement, some say their attention needs to be on the now.

“We’re running a new water line to facilitate more development over the mountain without helping ratepayers struggling to pay their bills now,” said BWWB customer Peggy Gargis previously. “Why are we putting so much money into building new growth instead of protecting watershed land that filters water for free?”

In her question Gargis referenced an ongoing legal battle between environmental groups and BWWB over a legal promise from the utility to protect local watershed lands.

As the Lede previously reported BWWB originally had the case dismissed in Jefferson County Circuit Court but the groups appealed it to the Alabama Supreme Court who most recently ruled that BWWB had broken the conservation aspect of their 2001 settlement agreement.

Some BWWB customers say the Carson Loop project alone has already caused negative environmental effects.

“Since they completed Phase 6C in Liberty Park sediment goes into the Cahaba every time it rains, so I don’t know who really wanted that,” previously said local environmentalist Densie LeCroy, a longtime public opponent of the BWWB.

Jackson wrote the following in an emailed response this week.

“Construction related Carson Loop 6C was completed in 2017,” Jackson wrote. “BWW followed all erosion control best practices and acquired necessary permits as it is relates to this project. The protection of the watershed is an important priority for Birmingham Water Works.”