Report calls for a corrective action report within 30 days and puts the system’s water loss at 38.8 percent
The Alabama Department of Environmental Management found eight significant deficiencies in the Uniontown Water Works & Sewer Board’s drinking water system at an Aug. 27 inspection, according to ADEM’s annual inspection report on the system.
Seven of the eight fall under the report’s first finding: “Not all deficiencies from the previous annual inspection or the previous sanitary survey have been addressed.”
The report calls for the board to “submit to the Department a corrective action report addressing the concerns described above” within 30 days. It says chlorine cylinders that were examined at the last inspection are still lying on the grass behind the wellhouse and “need to be removed immediately.”
The cover letter, dated Sept. 28, is addressed to board chairman Clarence Black and signed by Brett Newton of ADEM’s Drinking Water Branch. “Please review the report and correct any deficiencies noted,” the letter says.
The system serves 3,600 people through 1,147 service connections, according to ADEM’s inspection checklist, which lists one well, the James Avenue Well, and one tank, the James Avenue Tank, a 500,000-gallon elevated tank.
The daily amount of phosphate used for corrosion control is not being reported on the system’s monthly operational reports, the report says, and logbooks need to be set up and kept for verifying and calibrating colorimeters and other testing equipment.
A tank maintenance plan is in the state database, but the system does not have it on file. A source water assessment is being done and is to be filed with the system’s other plans when it is finished.
Trees and other vegetation have overgrown two legs of the James Avenue Tank, “making them completely inaccessible.” The fence at the well and tank site is knocked down in multiple places, with no gate and no signs.
The eighth significant deficiency was unchained chlorine cylinders in a small storage building behind the wellhouse.
ADEM’s May 29, 2025, inspection listed the phosphate reporting, the logbooks, a tank maintenance plan and an updated source water assessment as significant deficiencies.
The phosphate reporting was the only significant deficiency in ADEM’s Sept. 16, 2024, sanitary survey, which told the board to begin reporting phosphate feed rates on its monthly reports in December 2024.
This year’s report also lists seven minor deficiencies and calls for the same 30-day corrective action report on them.
The chlorine exhaust fan at the James Avenue Well was not working at the time of the inspection, and there is no chlorine gas leak detector or appropriate protective equipment on site, the report says. The system has no standard operating procedures and needs to create and carry out a formal leak detection program.
The tank shows signs of coating failure and needs to be cleaned and painted. There was exposed, loose wiring in the wellhouse, running from an outlet to metering equipment on the pipe from the well.
“There is not adequate security at the wellhouse,” the report says. “The fence is down in multiple locations and chlorine cylinders are exposed, unchained, and visible from the road.”
Under its recommendations, the report puts the system’s unaccounted-for water loss for the past year at 38.8 percent. “The Department recommends no more than a 15% water loss,” it says.
ADEM’s figure was 29.4 percent in its Sept. 16, 2024, sanitary survey and 33.7 percent on the checklist from its May 29, 2025, inspection.
The report also recommends an updated system map showing the locations of all valves, hydrants and master meters. It says the system cannot isolate sections of its distribution system to repair a leak without causing water outages to customers.
The wellhouse needs repair, and the report notes that the work “will be completed in an upcoming rehab project.” Rusted piping in the wellhouse should be painted, it says.
