Henderson Co. Water District has multi-million dollar plan to reduce water loss

HENDERSON, Ky. (WFIE) - Officials with Henderson County Water District say their infrastructure is old, and they have too many water leaks.

Superintendent Mark Julian presented an outline of their plan to fix it to the Fiscal Court Tuesday.

He’s says they are losing about 43% of the water they purchase, and he asked for a grant and a loan to begin fixing the problem.

“This situation is not just unsustainable. It’s endangering our operations,” he said.

Julian estimated needing $2.6 million to get started, but the entire plan could cost $8 million.

He says they need manpower, technology, and materials.

Right now, asking to increase rates isn’t even an option because regulators require the water loss rate to be much lower.

Fiscal court members say they would like to help with the fix, but they need a more detailed plan.

They are concerned HCWU isn’t asking them for enough money, and they don’t want the rest of the costs to be made up by eventually raising rates once the water loss is low enough to do so.

There was no vote Tuesday, but Julian says he will be in touch with more of the information the court asked about.

Either way, it will be a multi-step, multi-year process.

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