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The
Board of Directors meets at
the Beaches
Water Co-operative office, generally on the second Thursday evening of
the month.
The Business Manager receives direction from the Board for the
day-to-day
operation of the Water
Co-operative.
Our Mission
The Board of Directors has established a mission for the Beaches Water Co-operative; "To provide water
service that is
dependable, economical, and
meets or exceeds health standards for all
Co-operative
members". To meet that mission,
the Co-operative's
business was divided
into four areas: Operation, Administration,
Environmental, and Financial:
Operation
The Beaches Water Co-operative
consists of five
pumping stations with a total
of eight wells. All five stations are normally in operation supplying
water
to almost 800 homes
in the communities of Long Beach,
Calvert Beach,
Cherry Lane Farms, Kings Creek II, and Calvert Beach Estates II
.
Controls cycle the pumping stations on and off as needed.
The
system has sufficient capacity to add a good number of new homes which
allows us
to shutdown pumping stations for repairs and maintenance.
Sections of the water system are over 40 years old and
require
periodic
repair. We have had numerous leaks in the system, mostly with black
plastic
piping. The typical leak is repaired in-place with no interruption of
service.
We are fixing all minor repairs and additions are performed by our
contract
plumber.
As part of our operational goals, we seek to minimize
interruption of
service. When necessary to shutdown a section of the system, we will
post
signs in the affected areas, a day in advance.
Former
"Shut-Off" Sign
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New "Shut-Off"
Sign
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Future plans also
call for additional isolation valves which will allow us to shutdown
smaller sections of the community without affecting the entire system.
Beaches Water Co-operative
is
responsible for the water service up-to and including
the corporation stop valve which is located at the curb box at the
street.
Whenever possible, we will work with the homeowner to coordinate
repairs
to their side of the line. In these cases, we will come out and turn
the
water on and off as needed. The corporation stop valve shall not be
operated
by anyone other than water company personnel.
Administration
We have improved our bill processing, and with billing handled from our
office during the day, most questions are resolved immediately. Issues
with the water system can also be quickly evaluated. The Beaches Water Co-operative Rules have been updated
to allow the
Business Manager to process
past due accounts. Water service is interrupted if a past due account
is
not paid.
Environmental
The water provided to each member is groundwater, pumped from any of
our
eight deep wells in the system. These large production wells meet
current
demand standards and are expected to supply adequate amounts of water
well
into the next century.
Water is treated with gaseous or liquid chlorine within
the
treatment
plant and then stored in a local tank which is pressure fed to the
distribution
system. Chlorine residuals are tested daily, and water quality is
monitored
through monthly operational reports and routine inspections
administered
by the Maryland State Department of the Environment, and by the federal
EPA.
Currently, under provisions of the Safe Water Drinking
Act
(SWDA), water
quality is monitored for over 80 potential contaminants. Accordingly,
BWC
is operating in full compliance with all water standards under SDWA and
enforced by EPA. If we should ever fail to meet these standards, all
affected
members would be notified immediately. The water system supplies
105,000
gallons of water per day to our members, as well as providing fire
protection
at any one of our 20 fire hydrant locations.
Financial
The breakdown of the BWC budget for each fiscal year can be viewed in the corresponding Newsletter/CCR
Effective July 1st, 2021
Beaches Water Co-op will no longer accept credit card payments over the telephone. Please use one of the following options to pay by credit card.
- On-line via our website
- Using your on-line customer portal
- Making your payment in the office
Please note all credit card transactions are now subject to a processing fee that is the greater of $1.95 or 3% of the charge amount. However, we are now offering free recurring ACH bank draft auto pay. Please sign up on your customer portal or call the office @ 410-586-8710 to sign up.
(Please be advised that there are companies, including banks that will offer to pay your Beaches Water Co-op bill for you by providing bill pay services through their websites. These companies may charge you extra fees for such services, and BWC cannot control when we may receive payments from these companies, possibly resulting in late payments or even service disruptions due to non-payment.)
"The William E. Rausch Plant"
Please submit all
questions and comments
to
beacheswater5901@gmail.com
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