County approves water project application
By PAMELA BRUST, pbrust@newsandsentinel.comPARKERSBURG - Residents in the Riser Ridge and Laurel Fork areas of Wood County have been trying for more than 18 years to get funding for a water line extension to provide a clean, reliable source of water.
Residents, forced to resort to hauling water or relying on cisterns and unreliable wells, are keeping their fingers crossed, hoping this sixth application for a Small Cities Block Grant through the county will be successful and they will be able to get water through an extension of the Claywood Park Public Service District system.
A second public hearing on the proposed $1.5 million block grant application was held Thursday before the Wood County Commission on a proposed $5.3 million water line extension project. If approved by the state, the grant funding would be combined with whatever funding can be obtained through the Rural Utility Services agency to help pay for a waterline extension that would serve more than 300 homes in the areas of Riser Ridge, Laurel Creek, Shiloh, West Virginia 31 and surrounding areas not being served.
"We've just been fighting an uphill battle, the water is all around us," said Kimberly Wright, a resident of the area that would be served by the new water project. Wright said many of the families haul water in for livestock, buy drinking water, estimated to be around $40 a month just for water to use for cooking and drinking, in addition to the cost of the hauled water for laundry, bathing, livestock, plus the cost of the gasoline. Some use cisterns to collect rainwater and wells, and there are health concerns, she said.
The Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Council is coordinating the grant application. Erin Thacker, grant coordinator with the regional council, told commissioners this will be the sixth year for a SCBG proposal for this project.
"We have been approved for some funding through the Rural Utilities Service, so we're hopeful that will help greatly once this project gets down to the development office. So we've got our fingers crossed this will be the year this project will get funded," Thacker said.
"I'm speaking for probably more than 1,500 people out there. We appreciate the support you've given us in the past. It's up to the governor now," Wright said.
"We are behind your project," commission President Bob Tebay told Wright as the commissioners voted to authorize Tebay to approve the grant application which will now be forwarded to the state.
"I think it is the promise of government to provide basic services to the citizens, water, sewer, electricity are part of those promises. Some of those are provided by private utilities, some are handled by governmental utilities, it's one of those things that should be resolved and we hope we can do our part to resolve those problems," said Commissioner Blair Couch.
The proposed extension areas include Borland Springs-Ewing Ridge, Riser Ridge-Volcano, Shiloh-Tallyho-Laurel Fork, Upper Stillwell-Montgomery Hill, Jerico-Doyle, Dry Run and Oak Grove Ridge in Wood County and Grieves Run in Wirt County.
Thacker said letters to the governor in support of the project will also be helpful. The letters should be mailed to Erin Thacker, at the MOVRC, 531 Market St., Parkersburg, WV 26101 and will be forwarded to the state once the project is up for consideration.
|
RickWT
|
|
|---|---|
|
07-05-08 8:14 PM
|
Eighteen years to get water lines to Laurel Ridge. That's pitiful. How many dollars for Wood County rural water and sewer extension are being spent each month improving the infrastructure of other nations?
|