FAIRHOPE — Demands on the Fairhope water system will continue to increase and are expected to exceed the current capacity in a few years, a report on the system said.

At a Fairhope City Council work session Monday, Dec. 12, Caleb Leach of Krebs Engineering, the company that worked on the study, said the average demand for the system is expected to be 13 to 16 million gallons per day by 2033. The city now has a well capacity of 11 million gallons a day and a treatment capacity of 8.5 million gallons per day.

He said the city is working to increase the capacity of the system and that capacity will be needed as demand grows.

"When you start looking at this 10-year period and the number of additional wells that need to be developed to stay in that envelope, you've got to start planning for it now," Leach said. "You've got to start looking for sites."

He said improvements now in the works will increase capacity. At Treatment Plant 3, work should increase the capacity at that site from 1.5 million gallons per day to 3.6 million. That project is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2024.

Leach said city officials should continue to develop plans to study increases in demand and plan to improve the system.

"As the city in our eyes has moved from a smaller system to a medium sized system and you've seen a lot of growth, it ensures that Fairhope has the water supply it needs, enables the city to prioritize water supply improvements, helps with budgeting and improves the water system reliability and redundancy," Leach said.

Leach said some of the difference in well capacity and treatment capacity is due to the distribution system. About 85% of the water lines in the city are 8 inches in diameter or less.

He said increasing the capacity of the water lines would help meet demands in areas that are developing faster than others, such as northern Fairhope.

Councilman Corey Martin said Fairhope has been fortunate that the area has not had to deal with shortages that have affected other regions. He said, however, that as the population increases, the city should be ready to deal with changing situations.

"When we look at the patterns of what's happening around the nation, around the world with our water, should we be that vain in thinking, we've got all the water in the world," Martin said.

Leach said some recommendations for preparing the water plan include considering new wells at Treatment Plant 1 and Treatment Plant 3 and drilling to a deeper aquifer at Treatment Plant 4. He said the city could also create a hydraulic model and a water supply study to prepare to deal with increases in demands.