THE AUTHORITY
The Authority is a public corporation existing under the provisions of the Enabling Law ( 11-88-1 et seq. of the Code of Alabama 1975). The Authority was incorporated in April, 1966 pursuant to a resolution adopted by the governing body of Jefferson County, Alabama. Under its Certificate of Incorporation, as last amended, the Authority has the powers, among others, to acquire, construct, improve, operate and maintain a water system within its service area, to refund its outstanding bonds, and to issue revenue bonds for any of its corporate purposes. The Roupes Valley Water Authority was incorporated in 1970 pursuant to a resolution adopted by the governing body of Jefferson County, Alabama. The Roupes Valley Certificate of Incorporation was amended to expand the service area of the Roupes Valley Water Authority into Shelby County, Bibb County, and Tuscaloosa County. An Amendment in 1979 eliminated Bibb County from the service area and an amendment in 1991 eliminated Shelby County from its service area.
Acquisition of Roupes Valley System
The Roupes Valley Water Authority was merged into the Warrior River Water Authority on April 30, 1998 pursuant to a Transfer, Assignment and Conveyance Agreement between the Authority and Roupes Valley Water Authority and an Assumption of Obligations Agreement dated April 30, 1998 between such authorities and pursuant to an amendment of the Certificate of Incorporation of the Authority. Such actions were approved by the Board of Directors of each authority and by a resolution duly adopted by the Jefferson County Commission on March 18, 1998 and a resolution duly adopted by the Tuscaloosa County Commission on April 9, 1998. The two Authorities merged in order to better serve their customers and to provide for improvements to adequately serve the growing areas they serve. The main office in located in Oak Grove.
Board of Directors: The Authority consists of and is governed by five members, four of whom are appointed by the governing body of Jefferson County and one of whom is elected by the governing body of Tuscaloosa County. The directors of the Authority serve on a part time basis for minimal compensation and are not active in the day to day operation of the System.
The System
The Oak Grove Service Area of the System was originally constructed with the proceeds of loans from the Farmers Home Administration of the United States Department of Agriculture in the original aggregate principal amount of $2,554,600, self- generated funds of the Authority, and contributions and grants from Jefferson County, the Appalachian Regional Commission, the State of Alabama, private developers and Farmers Home Administration in the aggregate principal amount of $2,422,321. In 1993, the Authority issued its $6,680,000 Water Revenue Bonds, Series 1993, and used approximately $4,350,000 of such proceeds to construct capital improvements to the system, including a new water treatment plant of 6,000,000 gallons per day capacity, two new storage tanks and the installation of larger water mains.
The McCalla Service Area of the system was originally constructed with the proceeds of loans from the Farmers Home Administration, Water Revenue Bonds issued in 1990 and 1997, customer contributions and grants from various federal, state and county sources.
The System, as now constituted, consist of approximately 600 miles of mains, having diameters ranging from 2” through 24”. The System service area is approximately 306 square miles, 278 of which are in the southwestern portion of Jefferson County near the Cities of Bessemer, Hueytown and Birmingham and approximately 28 square miles in the northeast tip of Tuscaloosa County. The Authority does not operate in any incorporated area other than the Town of North Johns and the Town of Lake View and small parts of the cities of Hueytown, Bessemer, and Birmingham. The service area of the Authority is essentially rural residential in character though it encompasses several facilities operated by mining concerns, as well as commercial operations, and many of its residential areas reflect the fact that it is located in the most populous county in the state. The Authority estimates that the population of its service area is approximately 39,000.
The Authority has at present 14 storage tanks ranging from 130,000 gallons to 2 million gallons. Two of the storage tanks are elevated and 12 provide ground level storage with an aggregate capacity of 10,880,000 gallons, Storage for the Oak Grove Service Area is 4.88 million gallons and storage for the McCalla Service Area is 6 million gallons for a total of 10.88 million gallons. Based on an average summer month consumption of 300 gallons per day per customer, the Oak Grove Service Area has a current reserve of three days storage and the McCalla Service Area has a reserve of 4.7 days storage, both of which exceed ADEM’S two-day storage requirement. The System has 9 booster pumps, 3 wells, one raw water intake and pumping station, and a 6 mgd water purification plant.
