Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Water Project Waiting

Prescott's rural water project is going from a dream to a reality.

A public meeting was held Tuesday, Feb. 22, with Jon Chadwell, executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office letting people know what was going on with the project.

Work on a rural water project began about five years ago, beginning with a lot of "ifs", Chadwell said. Now, though, $4.2 million has been deposited to make most of the ifs turn into whens.

The only holdup at this time is customers. Those in the rural areas affected need to sign up to help keep the overall costs down for each customer.

Otherwise, Chadwell said, the project may have to be scaled back, and this is something the EDO, the City of Prescott and Nevada County doesn't want.

Chadwell urged those 50 in attendance to sign up and tell their friends and neighbors about the project, helping to get them to sign up as well.

There are two ways to get water, he said, rain, something the area hasn't seen much of regularly for some time, or having it piped in. Piping water, he added, isn't a cheap operation.

Currently, the $4.2 million will pay all expenses on the project. This includes more than 100 miles of pipe, a water tower and two pumping stations.

The best part, he said, is most of the money for this project is in the form of grants. In fact, $2,633,495 is in grants not having to be paid back, while the remaining $1,531,500 is in the form of loans. These loans do have to be repaid, and the payment is figured into the water bill of the customers along the project route.

The lending agencies involved want at least 700 customers to sign up for the project. Chadwell said the city was able to talk these entities into dropping this number to 80 percent of the 815 houses in the project area. This means about 600 need to sign up to keep the costs down.

In this way, he said, the monthly payment for the project will be $8,740.30. This figure will be divided equally among the customers and placed on their water bill each month.

Chadwell said those planning on signing up for city water need to have their deposit of $180 in by Oct. 15.

This date is important as the remainder of the project depends on having the customers lined up so the engineering firm of Marlar and Associates can design the plans, the bids let and the project can gotten underway.

Customers can get meters anywhere from 3/4 inch to two inches, depending on their needs. Chadwell said few homes will require meters larger than 3/4 inch.

The larger meters are primarily used for business and industry purposes.

According to Chadwell, plans are to break ground on the project in Jan. 2001 and be finished by Jan. 2002.

For those who wait until they see work underway on the project and decide they want city water, it will cost them more to hook onto the system.

According to figures Chadwell provided to those attending, with 700 customers signing up before Oct. 15, it will cost those coming on board late $300. The costs rise with fewer initially signing up.

For 600 initial customers it rises to $530; then to $590 with 500 customers; and 668 if only 400 sign up on time.

However, those in the low income bracket will have the connection and service fee waived, paying only the $50 meter deposit. This can be done by paying $25 down and the rest on or before Oct. 15.

Those customers falling in the moderate and non-low income financial bracket can also pay $25 down and the remaining $155 by Oct. 15.

Anyone making a deposit and not paying the remainder on time will lose the deposit made.

Once the system is in place customers will be billed on a monthly basis. With 700 residential customers all using 3/4 inch lines, the average monthly bill would be $26.99, based on using 4,500 gallons of water a month. The bill would rise by $1.50 for each additional 1,000 gallons used.

Non-residential customers on the line would have a base bill of $28.49.

Of course the minimum bill could be higher per person if fewer than 700 sign up. It would be $29.06 with 600 customers; $31.98 with 500; and $36.35 should only 400 sign up.

The more who sign up early will help everyone save on the base bill.

The largest part of the bill will be paying on the loan. With 700 signing up the payment would be $12.49; $14.56 with 600 customers; $17.48 with 500 signing on; and $21.85 if only 400 join the project.

Some incentives have been built in to give people a reason to sign up early.

First, the project will be built in stages, starting where the largest percentage have signed on. Those living in this area will get water before the other areas.

The project areas include Pleasant Hill, Boughton, Midway, Redland, Highway 24 and Highway 67.

Another reason for early participation is it saves money. In some cases it can be up to $500 less by paying before Oct. 15.

And, the more who sign up mean everyone pays less on their monthly water bill.

However, there is a down side. If an area has no participation, or very little, it could be cut from the project. Then, Chadwell said, it could be years before they get another chance to have city water.

When the project was first proposed five year ago, about 100 people initially signed up for city water. Since then, though, several asked for their deposit back, leaving about 60 still on the list.

Additionally, during the early stages of the project, wells in the project area were tested. Of those wells tested, Chadwell said, 25-38 percent were deemed to be unsafe for drinking water, though they were being used in this manner.

During a question and answer session it was asked if the customers would be notified before the rates were raised.

Larry Stockton, who works for the city, said the rates are normally only raised when there isn't enough money being generated to operate the system. But, this project has a built in depreciation fund to help cover the cost of replacing any equipment, so rates will most likely not be raised for some time after the job is done.

Mike Marlar, with Marlar Engineering, told the audience the pipe will range in size from two to eight inches and mostly be PVC.

He also said it will help speed things along and keep costs down if all easements are donated.

Marlar said this project is unusual as 65 percent of the funding came from grants. Normally only 40 percent of such projects are paid for with grant money.

"You had a lot of people working hard to help you on this project," he said. "People at the Arkansas Development Department looked favorably on the area with this much in grants."

State Sen. Mike Ross, who worked on the project since its inception, said Prescott Mayor Howard Taylor and Nevada County Judge James Roy Brown were the driving force behind the project.

"When this is done," he said, "a lot of the county will be covered. I've worked for 10 years to get water from Waterloo to Bodcaw, you here have real leaders and need to get people signed up."