Water district $580,000 project get’s high priority

by MATT HUGHES

J-E News Editor

A water rehab project for the Webster County Water District (WCWD) was placed third on the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority’s (KIA) loan priority list of drinking water projects for the next fiscal year. Being on the list does not guarantee the district will receive money, but being listed as the third most important project does make it likely that this will happen.

The $580,000 project includes upgrades to the water district’s 300,000 gallon tanks at Vanderburg and Oak Heights, as well as a new pump station between Mt. Pleasant and the city of Dixon.

“We’ve spent a lot of money in the last couple of years upgrading our other tanks,” said district superintendant Paul Lashbrook. “Last year we did the Dixon 300,000 gallon elevated tank. We had it taken down, cleaned, blasted, painted and installed the new mixing system. That cost about $296,000.”

The two tanks serve abut 75% of the district’s water customers, including the cities of Dixon and Clay. They are also an integral part of WCWD’s interconnects with Henderson County Water District, Union County Water District, and Crittenden/Livingston County Water District. Last summer they provided water to Union County on two separate occasions. 

Part of the upgrade is the installation of a mixing system that helps keep the water being pumped out of the tanks fresh and will hopefully cut down on the amount of water that is flushed from the system.

“When we pull samples for bio-contaminants, we’ve been flushing like mad to keep water out to our system,” Lashbrook explained. “It’s good, but it cost a lot of money to produce water that we’re flushing out on the ground.”

$500,000 of the total amount of the project is earmarked for the tank upgrades. The remaining $80,000 is destined for a the pump station between the Mt. Pleasant water tank and the city of Dixon.

This part of the project will pay to replace the two pumps and motors at the Mt. Pleasant tank site that feed the City of Dixon and are starting to wear out due to age and are starting to have mechanical failures that cause supply issues.

“We’re waiting right now to see if we can get some grant fund assistance,” Lashbrook said.

Unless the WCWD finds grants to cover part or all of the project, they will be responsible for repaying the full amount of the loan to KIA.