Springs water tower goes back on line. Now town officials are looking for a new funding source for the next round of much-needed water and sewer infrastructure improvements.
Heath Springs Town Administrator Tony Starnes said he has already contacted Grazier Rhea, community development director for the Catawba Regional Council of Governments, to inquire about grants that might be used for future projects.
Phase V was funded in 2014 through a portion of a $405,000 S.C. Department of Commerce Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). Next, the town wants to replace deteriorated water lines along the western side of Rowland Avenue from South College Street to Flat Rock Road.
“The water is a golden color,” said Heath Springs Mayor Ann Taylor. “It looks really bad.”
Starnes said grant funding might not cover the cost of that project, because there are only three houses along that portion of Rowland Avenue, and these grants normally will provide only $10,000 per house. The project would cost more than $30,000.
So Starnes wants to try combining the Rowland Avenue project with another one – upgrading water lines along a block of Main Street at the Perry Street intersection headed south. But Starnes said Rhea told him she was not sure if the two proposed water line projects could be combined for the purpose of getting a grant.
Council directed Starnes to explore this funding possibility further.
Phase V almost complete
The final component of Phase V was renovation the town’s 150,000-gallon water tank, which is in the 4000 block of South College Street.
The work started last August and had a tentative completion date of Oct. 31. But the upgrades got sidetracked in September after an overflow pipe ruptured.
After the pipe was repaired, the contractor, Atlanta-based Utility Service Group, went back to work on water tower upgrades, which are now complete, except for a few cosmetics.
“They still haven’t put the logo on the outside of the tank, but it’s too cold to do that right now,” Starnes said.
Starnes said the contractor applied a disinfectant inside the water tank on Jan. 18. The next step, Starnes said, is refilling it so the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control can test water samples. Once the tank passes DHEC inspection, Starnes said it will be flushed, refilled and put back into service.
“After that, we should be good to go,” he said.
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