By JODI DEAL - COALFIELD PROGRESS
Published January 13, 2006

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1283&dept_id=158550&newsid=15924395&PAG=461&rfi=9

One-third of a $5 million General Assembly appropriation for water and sewer projects in Southwest Virginia is headed for the Lenowisco Planning District.
The $1.6 million award will connect 467 households with public water and 168 households with sewer service, with a total of 635 homes served.

The money has been split as equally as possible among the eligible projects in each county served byt the planning district, including Wise, Lee and Scott counties, along with the city of Norton, Lenowisco planner Lou Ann Johnson says.

Gov. Mark Warner made the announcement Thursday.

The Cumberland Plateau and Mount Rogers planning districts also got $1.6 million each. The funds will be distributed through the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, and will serve more than 1,000 households. That includes connecting about 800 citizens with clean and safe public water.

All of the projects funded by the General Assembly appropriation, referred to as the Southwest Virginia Water and Wastewater Fund, were identified as "high priority" in a recent state assessment of Southwest Virginia's water needs.

The projects planned in Wise County and the City of Norton, which account for about $547,000 of the local share of the water/wastewater fund, include:

* Banner/ Sandy Ridge Interconnect: About $290,000 will be used toward the connection of two Wise County Public Service Authority pump stations in the Banner section of Coeburn and on Sandy Ridge.

The interconnect would not serve any new households, but would allow the town of Coeburn and the county PSA to end a water-swapping agreement that, since the early 1990s, has limited the capacity of Coeburn's water treatment plant. With the connecting pipes, PSA will be able to serve customers on Sandy Ridge without help from the town, allowing Coeburn to serve new customers in Flatwoods.

Lenowisco and the county PSA have worked together to seek grant funding for the project. According to Johnson, the remaining $373,000 may be covered by a grant they have applied for from the Virginia Department of Health. Johnson doesn't expect to hear news on that grant until June but, in the meantime, she says, the water/wastewater fund money can be used to work on planning.

That way, if the funding comes through, the project can move forward as soon as VDH grant money is awarded, she added.

* Flatwoods water extension: About 80 homes in the Flatwoods community just outside of Coeburn will receive public water service from the town as a result of this project. About $203,000 of the water/wastewater appropriation will go toward this project, in addition to a $1 million community development block grant from DHCD and a $40,000 planning grant from Lenowisco. Now that the project has full funding, Johnson noted, construction might begin as soon as May.

* Riverview sewer: This project will provide eight homes in the Riverview community, just south of Coeburn, with sewer service. Lenowisco has directed $54,000 of the water/wastewater fund to this project, and the county PSA has invested $40,000. The total, $94,000, should be enough to pay for a preliminary engineering report, a rate study, other planning needs, materials and installation, Johnson said. She added that plans are complete, and the project should be under construction by April and completed by May.

* Norton dam: The city will receive $50,000 from the water/wastewater fund to pair with $50,000 it has received in other General Assembly appropriations to pay for engineering services on the dam project, Johnson said.

Once the city has a definite plan, including construction costs and construction documents, it will be able to seek funds to get the construction underway.

"The $100,000 is a drop in the bucket compared to what this will cost," Johnson noted, but it's a start. The engineering should be completed by September, she said.

The city of Norton needs to strengthen the earthen dam at its reservoir so it meets state dam safety requirements. To coat the dam with concrete may cost about $2.44 million, and to raise its capacity along with the needed repairs will cost about $3.46 million, according to preliminary estimates.

City Manager Ernie Ward said in August that he hopes to see the project completed by the fall of 2008.

OTHER LENOWISCO PROJECTS

Other projects funded with the remaining $1.03 million from the water/wastewater fund include:

* Rose Hill Sewer: Will provide 160 Lee County homes with sewer service. The project has received $500,000 from the water/wastewater fund and $500,000 from DHCD, and is currently under construction.

* Occonita Loop water project: Will serve 360 homes in Occonita, located in Lee County. About $203,000 from the water/wastewater fund completes the funding for this $7.14 million project. Other grants and loans have come from VDH and the USDA Rural Development Agency. Construction is set to start this summer.

* Manville/Red Hill Water extension: The town of Gate City will begin providing public water to 17 households in two Scott County when this project, slated to start within the next month, is completed in early 2007. About $2.1 million of the cost came from the Virginia Department of Health, and the remaining $203,000 came from the water/wastewater fund.

* Mabe/Stanleytown Water Extension: Ten homes will get water service as a result of this extension, which will cost about $105,000. The full cost of the project will be covered by water/wastewater fund money.