The City of Grenada recently benefited from nearly $3.5 million in federal assistance to help improve water service in the Gore Springs Community.
According to Grenada City Manager Stanford Amos, the project quickly went into motion when funding was announced by U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) last month. He said that bids for the extensive project have already been awarded, adding that work should begin during the first quarter of 2022.
“We have some documents to sign and have approved, so we should actually begin on this project the first part of the year,” he said.
According to Hyde-Smith’s office, Grenada received a $2,069,000 low-interest loan as well as $1.4 million in grant funding to construct a 400-gallon per minute permanent water well in Gore Springs. The funds will also be used to install chlorination, phosphate feeder and fluoridation; purchase a 125-kilowatt generator, construct a 200,000-gallon elevated storage tank, install distribution lines and fund any additional related accessories needed for the project.
“We are going to establish a well and perform some repairs on some of the infrastructure there to make sure that we’ve got sufficient infrastructure to accommodate what’s there and hopefully what’s going to be growing out there as well,” Amos said.
Grenada was one of four rural Mississippi communities that received a portion of $10.9 million in U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development funding to improve water and wastewater systems. The projects in Grenada, DeSoto, Perry and Pike counties will benefit from USDA Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant Program funding. The total $10,907,500 in FY2021 appropriated funding includes $9,601,500 in low-interest loans and $1,846,000 in grants.
“I’m pleased to see USDA Rural Development advance public utility projects for the residents in these Mississippi communities,” Hyde-Smith, who serves on the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, said. “The improvements these investments will support should ensure more reliable water and wastewater services, which are quality of life requirements.”
The other three beneficiaries of funding include, Nesbit Water Association, Inc., in Nesbit ($5,150,000 loan), the Janice Water System Association, Inc., in Brooklyn ($331,000 loan and $446,000 grant) and Friendship Community Water System, Inc., in McComb ($1,511,500 loan).
The City of Grenada is facilitating the project as provider of water service to Gore Springs. Amos hopes the additions will alleviate most – if not all – of the water issues experienced in the eastern Grenada County community.
“That is the ultimate goal,” Amos concluded. “To make sure that there is uninterrupted, clean and safe water out there. Hopefully we won’t be experiencing the breakages and stoppages in some of the areas that we are in the city after that’s done.”
The Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant Program focuses on the water and wastewater infrastructure needs of rural communities of 10,000 or less, providing funds for clean and reliable drinking water systems, sanitary sewage disposal, sanitary solid waste disposal and storm water drainage to households and businesses.
