Water pressure system having trouble

Huber Heights residents might have noticed a slight decrease in their water pressure over this past weekend.

The city is working to remedy the issue.

City Manager Rob Schommer said the water pressure booster system was shut down last week, turned back on and then shut down again over the weekend because there was a loss of communication between the booster pumps and the water plant. While the booster system is shut down, the water pressure has returned to the pressure it was before the boosters were installed.

A $2.5 million water pressure project brought water pressure to 60 psi.

Before the pressure increase, water pressure for residents of Huber Heights who live north of Interstate 70 was at 40 psi. With the current issues, water pressure is back to 40 psi.

City Engineer Russ Bergman said 40 psi is typically too low for most businesses and households, which is why the city pursued the project in the first place.

The construction of three booster stations, valves and the other necessary equipment was completed earlier this year, and the city has slowly been increasing the water pressure since June.

To avoid having this issue again, the city is relocating the main communication point of the system and adding a backup connection, Schommer said.

Bergman said the city has a consultant coming in this week to work out network issues with the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. Bergman said the issues last week and this past weekend are due to an internet problem and not a problem with the actual water system.

The SCADA system also went out in July, Bergman previously told this news outlet.