Nola Sizemore

Staff Writer

The Cawood Water District recently received a Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) capitalization grant to help with leak detection and water loss throughout the district.

Water District Superintendent Pete Dean said with funds from this grant the utility hopes to eliminate leaks and replace water lines.

“Water loss is pretty high in our district,” said Dean. “With the acquisition of this grant, we will be replacing water lines from Dressen up to Grays Knob where we have found most of our leaks have been occurring. We’re replacing the lines with cast iron pipe instead of PVC pipe.”

Dean said when the Cawood Water District was first established a “blue service line” was installed. He said at that time this line was thought to be “a miracle solution.”

“Turned out the blue service line was not a miracle solution, but a lot of headaches for us,” said Dean. “The pipe is real brittle and the longer it stays in the ground the more brittle it becomes, causing it to crack. We’re presently replacing the blue service line with a black service line as we can.”

With the water district’s backhoe having been inoperable for a while, Dean said this has slowed their progress in getting the lines replaced.

“Our customers have been tolerant with boil water advisories and our work with replacing lines and we appreciate that,” said Dean. “We have a lot more to do and hopefully our customers will continue to be tolerant until we get it all done. We hope one day to have it all replaced.”

The DWSRF program was established by the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 to provide low-interest loans to public water systems for infrastructure improvements needed to produce safe drinking water.

The program emphasizes the prevention of drinking water contamination by allowing states to reserve a portion of their grants to fund activities that encourage enhanced water system management and source water protection.

A total of 22 small drinking water treatment systems in Kentucky received this financial assistance through the Capacity Development Assistant Program.

Reach Nola Sizemore at 606-573-4510 or at nsizemore@civitasmedia.com