Sale of Hickory Hills Water and Sewer Company assets approved

Hickory Hills Water & Sewer Co., Inc. serves approximately 48 customers in Moniteau County, just west of California. The Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved the sale of the water and sewer system assets of Hickory Hills Water & Sewer Co., Inc. (Hickory Hills) to the Missouri-American Water Company (MAWC).

After review of the application, the PSC staff recommended to the commission that the application be approved. That recommendation was also supported by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The sale was not opposed by the Office of the Public Counsel, which represents the general public in matters before the commission.

In the joint application, MAWC stated it would charge the same rates that Hickory Hills currently charges its customers. Those rates will not change unless by commission order in a MAWC rate case.

As part of its decision to approve the application, the PSC ordered MAWC to hold a meeting with customers of Hickory Hills within 60 days of the effective date of the commission's order. The commission's order takes effect Nov. 14. The purpose of the meeting is to inform customers of Hickory Hills of the transfer of ownership and operation.

The commission noted in its order that the current water system is in need of repairs, and the sewer system is in crisis, including: 1) A lagoon with a useful life that expired 30 years ago, sludge accumulated without removal over that time, resulting in diminished capacity for treatment. 2) Pipes that admit rainwater that can cause backups to homes, overflow of manholes, and overload in the lagoon, which can cause spillage and threaten a breach of containment. "Those and other issues," the commission's order said, "are the subject of litigation brought by DNR against Hickory Hills and pending in circuit court since 2012."