approximately 750 thousand gallons per day
with peak demand in late summer or early
fall. Elizabethtown operates a wastewater
treatment plant sited along the flood plain
of the Cape Fear River. The Town also
has a comprehensive website that provides
information on water conservation, hydrant
flushing notices, wellhead protection, and
water system information.
Elizabethtown uses five public water supply
wells screened in the confined and semi-
confined aquifers of the Coastal Plain. The
groundwater withdrawn by the wells comes
from the Black Creek, the Upper Cape Fear
and the Lower Cape Fear aquifers. These
aquifers are of Cretaceous age and are noted
for the high quality of their water. The Town’s
wells are very prolific, and have an average
yield of more than 450 gallons per minute.
The water system has an elevated water
storage capacity of 1.5 million gallons to
provide pressure and storage. Elizabethtown
also has a SCADA system for both its water
and sewer systems.
Pat DeVane, Public Utilities Director,
and Mike Hayes, Utilities Maintenance
Supervisor, work for the Town. Mike has been
with Elizabethtown for more than eighteen
years. We discussed some of the challenges
confronting the water system.
Recently, Turkey Vultures have taken up roost
on the Town’s main water tower. This is a real
concern, because the birds have extremely
acidic excretions that damage the paint and
solar panels, and can even eat through steel.
The vultures tend to roost in large community
groups, and this adds to the problem. Jim
Dotson of Southern Corrosion was visiting
Elizabethtown the day NCRWA interviewed
Mike and Pat, and his firm installs noise-
making devices that will scare the birds off
the structure. Jim told us that the birds are
protected under the Migratory Bird Act, and
cannot be dealt with in the way that I initially
suggested (shoot ‘em all).
Elizabethtown has started mapping its
infrastructure using GIS. A registered
land surveyor is assisting the Town with
transferring as-built blueprints to the Town’s
computers, and with pinpointing the manholes
in the wastewater system. Once the system is
mapped, Elizabethtown will have access to
customized maps that can be used for routine
maintenance, emergency repairs, and hydrant
flushing. Another benefit of the system
using GIS is that the data remains in-house,
and is available immediately by the people
who need it. NCRWA has recently moved
into the world of GIS; we acquired a Global
Positioning System (GPS) and can train your
system to use it.
Spring 2014 |
NCRWA.COM
33
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Figure 2
Figure 3
