Flood damage to water and sewer plants and equipment could total around $5 million, according to Pete Frost, executive director of Douglasville-Douglas County Water and Sewer Authority (WSA).

Frost made that estimate during a Monday WSA board of directors work session.

However, he hopes much of the damage will be covered by WSA’s insurance carriers and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) before WSA has to dip into its $7 million reserve account. Insurance will not cover damage to water lines, he said.

“We spent $528,000 on water repairs last week,” Frost reported. “The system is operational. It’s fragile, but to the best of my knowledge, we’re now servicing everybody in the county.”

Nevertheless, he said things could have been much worse, especially if the Dog River reservoir dam, recently raised 10 feet, had collapsed during the flooding.

“We were receiving more than 40 billion gallons daily down Dog River,” he said. “The dam was designed to handle only 30 billion. We were very fortunate.”

Frost said the dam gates suffered some damage as did the earthen structure on the back side.

“Water was coming over the dam and spillway,” he said. “But the dam is O.K.”

He said one WSA rain gauge recorded 21.7 inches during a 24-hour period. That compares with 9 inches for a 100-year event.

Frost said the expenses on the sewer system are just beginning. He said the two major wastewater treatment plants, Sweetwater and South Central, were not damaged. However, the pumping stations serving them were flooded.

“We disconnected power to the influent pump station at Sweetwater before it got damaged,” he said. “We’re now taking some flow at that plant.”

Frost said flooding took out the influent pumping station at the South Central plant, which will result in about $375,000 in repairs.

He said the pumping station, installed at the old Southside plant off Chapel Hill Road to pump to the new South Central plant, is operational but the lines there have several large breaks.

Frost said WSA insurance will cover up to $10 million, with a $5,000 deductible for buildings outside the 100-year flood plain. Structures in the flood plain have a $500,000 deductible.

He also reported heavy damage to the WSA stormwater system, with many culverts collapsing or washing away with the road. Although some culverts were installed many years ago and are too small to handle the current rain runoff capacity, he said FEMA will only pay for pipe one size up.

Commission Chairman Tom Worthan, a WSA board member, praised Frost and WSA employees for getting water service restored so quickly after the Monday morning flooding. Water was restored to most customers by Wednesday and the boil water notice was lifted on Sunday.