The Village’s Superintendent of Water and Wastewater, Brad Ault, gave an end-of-year report to Council at the group's most recent meeting Monday, March 3. (Video still)
Water Superintendent reports 36 million gallons lost in 2024
- Published: March 11, 2025
At the most recent Village Council meeting, Monday, March 3, the Village’s Superintendent of Water and Wastewater, Brad Ault, continued the string of annual reports delivered to Council, recapping the highs and lows of his department in 2024.
Of the highs, Ault was pleased to report that the two-year-long efforts to rehab the two, million-gallon water towers at Gaunt Park concluded last year with some success. Though the towers lost their iconic yellow bands for a more uniform robin’s egg blue, the valves for both towers, Ault said, were exercised and restored to proper function.
The north tower received a positive inspection from a state monitoring agency, and the south tower is set to be inspected later this year.
Other water-related successes in 2024 included taking home third place in the Ohio Rural Water Association taste test competition, thoroughly cleaning one of the water wells in the Village’s underground wellfield, setting up the new lift station for the new Spring Meadows subdivision, repairing diffusers in one of the plant’s aeration tanks, removing over 615,000 gallons of sludge with the plant’s press and, on average, treating an average flow of 317,000 gallons of water per day — down from over 400,000 gallons per day in 2024.
The bad news, Ault reported, is that the Village “lost” over 36 million gallons of water.
Over the course of the year, the Village plant treated 115 million gallons, but billed for 79 million, a 31% loss. The department is unable to account for that water — specifically, where it came from.
The Environmental Protection Agency states that the average water loss for any given municipality is 16%, due to leaks and other factors within a water system. The age and infrastructure quality of a system also play a role.
By comparison, the Village’s water loss for 2024 is up from the previous two years, but down significantly from the two years prior to that. In both 2022 and 2023, the Village lost about 29% per year. In 2021, 40% was lost, and in 2020, 45.5%.
“So, overall, we’ve lowered it quite a bit,” Ault told the News in an interview following Monday’s Council meeting. “There’s always going to be some water loss for any community, but we’re doing what we can to monitor for leaks everywhere we can.”
During Ault’s presentation to Council, Village Manager Johnnie Burns attested to this.
“We are dedicated to detecting leaks,” Burns said. “[Superintendent] Ben Sparks is really going to zoom in on the bike path this year to see if there could be any leaks in our 16-inch water main.”
Burns added that some of the loss could be attributed to hydrant flushing, filling Miami Township Fire-Rescue fire trucks and testing fire suppression infrastructure — none for which the Village is billed.
As Superintendent Sparks later told the News, one of the ways in which the Village searches and fixes water leaks in municipal lines is with the annual help of Fluid Loss Prevention, LLC — a company the Village contracts to survey local lines.
Using ultrasonic detection and computer correlation equipment, Fluid Loss Prevention can “pinpoint” losses, Sparks said. The company will come to town later this summer, the superintendent added.
“Beyond that, we’re continually researching and trying to figure out more ways to reduce this loss,” Sparks said. “We’re doing so much more than we used to. As soon as we identify a leak, our guys are out there in no time to fix it.”
Second outreach position?
Following Ault’s presentation, Police Chief Paige Burge took the podium to request that Village Council consider financing the creation of an additional Village position: a second full-time community outreach specialist, or COS.
Currently, the Village has just one COS, Florence Randolph, who works out of the police department to connect local residents with area social service organizations, provide food assistance, promote public safety and more.
As Chief Burge told Council, the need for a second COS position is evident based on how much she sees Randolph doing.
“There is a strong case to be made for needing this position,” she said. “In that role, she served 607 individuals and made 418 referrals [in 2024]. Florence stays quite busy.”
Burge also noted that this added staffer would be able to further help Randolph as her work is anticipated to ramp up after April 1, when the Xenia Law Department will stop providing prosecution or victim advocate services to Yellow Springs.
In a memo to Council, Burge wrote: “With the current COS role already established and effective in supporting all members of our community, crime victims included, it was determined we would further explore the possibility of the COS absorbing the critical responsibilities of the victim advocate role.”
Specifically, Burge told Council, this victim advocacy would come into play in cases of violent offenses that could potentially result in fines or jail time.
Elsewhere in her memo, Burge said that YSPD could, ostensibly, have the opportunity to offer such victim advocate services to neighboring municipalities, thereby creating potential avenues for revenue generation to offset the cost of the position.
Speaking to Council, Burge noted that YSPD’s 2025 budget of $2,044,258 could absorb the costs of a new full-time position within the department.
“Right now, we’re trending 9% under budget due to vacancies,” she said. “We’re slowing the role of promoting officers to corporals — just to take our time to make sure we have the right people and get more seniority under [officers’] belts. Those savings are going to add up, so by the end of the year, we’re looking at coming in at 5 to 8% under budget.”
Council will vote to approve the creation of a new COS position at a future meeting. The group meets next in Council Chambers on Monday, March 17.
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