Headline:

City seeks water, sewer funds

 

By MIKE VOSS

Washington Daily News

 

Washington’s City Council, during a public hearing Monday, will receive information and input concerning the city possibly applying for grant funds to help pay for water and/or sewer projects.

The money would come from the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Division of Water Infrastructure. Last year, the N.C. General Assembly allocated $26 million in federal grant funding to DENR’s infrastructure program.

“The purpose of these funds is to construct public water and sewer infrastructure to mitigate public and environmental health problems in areas where the percentage of low to moderate persons is at least 51 percent,” reads a memorandum from Allen Lewis, the city’s public-works director, to Mayor Mac Hodges and the City Council.

In the first round of the grant-application schedule, $10 million is available for distribution among projects that are selected for funding. The deadline for the first round of applications is April 1. The second-round ($15 million available) deadline is May 1. The maximum award for any one project is $3 million over a three-year period.

The grants cannot be used to pay for house connections to existing water and/or sewer lines.

“Therefore, the only match required is for projects that extend water or sewer lines to serve homes where there are contaminated or dry wells, or failing septic systems,” reads a grant-program document.

The public hearing is required to let the public know the grant funds are available, Lewis said Friday in a brief interview.

Lewis said the grant, if the city gets it, would be used for inflow-and-infiltration projects involving two pump stations, one at the intersection of Bridge and 13^th streets and the other at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Havens Street. Inflow/infiltration is when water from outside sources enters sewer lines (sometimes water line). Inflow/infiltration causes dilution in sewers. That decreases the efficiency and treating sewage and can increase costs to treat sewage.

In the past with similar grants, a second public hearing was held during which details of proposed projects were presented to the public for comment. Second public hearing will be conducted on this proposed project.