I am pleased to report to the membership that Davidson Water, Inc. has 62,174 total connections and 55,487 active meters. That is an increase of 783 active taps from prior year. We added 503 new water taps in the past year. That is a decrease of 32 over prior year, but the trend is certainly up over the low of 211 new taps back in 2013. Currently, we have 71 full-time employees and 3 part-time employees.

Water Treatment Plant and Water Quality: Highlights of 2018

• The Gregg W. Stabler Plant and the C.O. Pickle Plants ran an average of 9.75 MGD
• 14.573 MGD was peak flow during the month of July
• Gregg W. Stabler Water Plant received North Carolina Division of Water Resources prestigious North Carolina Area Wide Optimization Award given each year to systems that demonstrate outstanding turbidity removal, a key test in drinking water quality
• Began recycling water into Reservoir #2, while maintaining monitoring requirements of our NDPES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit
• Power load shared 38.5 hours with the plant generator for a cost savings on electricity
• Began UCMR4 (Unregulated Contaminate Monitoring Rule - 4th round) monitoring required by EPA every five years for unregulated contaminates
• C.O. Pickle Plant filter upgrade project was completed with a 12-filter rehab
• Engineers, Black and Veatch conducted a study of alternative disinfectants and subsequently was hired to begin a sodium hypochlorite conversion project based of the findings of the study
• Sponsored an Intern from Yadkin Valley Academy
• Sponsored a C-Surface Operator School for NCRWA (North Carolina Rural Water Association), including providing instructors for much of the coursework

Our distribution system saw line upgrades, line extensions and pipe relocation of 11.63 miles with nearly half of that being large 24” and 12” transmission lines that feed the new Hargrave Road Pump Station. Projects included upgraded replacement pipe on Harvey Teague Road, Peace Road, Broken Oak Road, Mountain View Road, Snider Road, and Grant Road; DOT bridge relocations; business fire lines; and 12 subdivisions. Hargrave Road Pump Station was nearly completed and will be put in service soon. This pump station upgrade along with the aforementioned transmission lines will serve the I-85 Corporate Center and major tenant Egger Wood Products as well as provide future water to the south end of Davidson County.

Our meter department installed 3,292 radio read meters bringing the total number in our system to 50,267. We plan to have all meters replaced with AMR (Automatic Meter Read) technology by the end of 2019. These meters are very accurate, have a 10 year warranty and are the best value for the company to measure and bill for water.

Customer Service, Cybersecurity and IT: The past year continues the trend of increased online activity. We sent just over 660,000 bills to our customers, with nearly 90,000 of those bills being emailed as opposed to being mailed through the USPS. This was an increase of 1.5% emailed over the previous year, making the total of customer bills being sent via email 13.5%.

Last July our website was updated and recoded to utilize more secure encryption standards. This ensures we are providing the best protection for our customers as they access their information and pay their bill. We also gave the customer more information regarding their account. Customers have access to multiple graphing options showing their water consumption history, as well as a link that will use GIS coordinates to display the location of their water meter on a map. Since the change in July, we have seen a total of nearly 95,000 payments online, with approximately 10,500 of those payments coming from customers utilizing the DirectPay link on their emailed bill. The DirectPay link allows the customer to easily pay their bill without even needing to first log into our site. Our CSR counters have also been upgraded with EMV chip readers for customer credit cards, and our Account Inquiry software has been updated to utilize these devices, replacing the older “swipe only” readers.

This past October, our Employee Portal went live. This allows our employees access to their paycheck stubs and W-2 forms, they can also order uniforms, change their payroll and HSA banking accounts, and manage PTO time, as well as work with a host of other HR-related functions. This was a very large project, and is still not complete. We have several other planned additions to the Portal that will be implemented as we move forward over the next year.

Employee Giving: Davidson Water employees have demonstrated an admirable need to give back to the community in more ways than one. Again, we set a record in employee giving in our annual United Way campaign contributing over $9,098.00. Our annual Food Drive at Christmas is always a huge success. Our employees contributed $335 in cash and 250 lbs. of food for Greater Things Outreach Center in Welcome. We partnered with First National Bank and contributed over $895.00 in Christmas gifts to Angel Tree children.

Davidson Water annually awards four college scholarships to deserving high school seniors in memory of past board members. Last year, recipients were: Ethan Beal, West Davidson High School; Khali Maxfield-Davis, North Davidson High School; Mary Nebrich, West Davidson High School and Susana Ramirez, West Davidson High School.

Davidson Water, Inc. is celebrating our 50-year anniversary this year. Please help us celebrate by attending our Member Day on Saturday, May 18, 2019 at our office facility in Welcome. We will have many fun events for the entire family. Also, we’ll have water treatment plant tours available leaving from our office in Welcome.

In closing, I want to emphasize our commitment to our mission of providing safe reliable water to our members at the lowest possible cost. We will continue to do that with the leadership of our board and management, the expert guidance of our professional staff, the dedication and expertise of our employees, and the support of our members. Thank you for your support.

Ron Sink, General Manager