Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 12, 1995 TAG: 9508140038
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MERRIMAC LENGTH: Medium
Water quality has been a long-standing community concern for Merrimac.. Many people live in single-family houses or mobile home parks, and traditionally they have relied on well water for drinking and septic fields or antiquated lagoon systems for sewage. A few houses still lack indoor plumbing.
The community's wastewater treatment should be improved by next summer, when a 26,000-foot sewer line and a new pump station are scheduled to be completed by the Montgomery County Public Service Authority.
Some low-income residents will be allowed to connect to the new line at no cost. Other income-eligible clients will pay a reduced connection fee of around $200, Gary Gibson of the service authority said.
These improvements will be paid for by a total of $1.9 million from the federal Housing and Urban Development and Agriculture departments, Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, said.
Grants account for about $1.3 million of the funding. The rest - about $600,000 - is a 40-year loan from the Rural Economic and Community Development Agency. Montgomery County will repay the loan at 4 percent annual interest.
In recent years, Merrimac has been the focus of other federal funds and construction projects to extend public water and sewer lines to this densely settled residential area.
"It's something that's really been needed," said Larry Linkous, chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors.
Soils aren't favorable for septic systems and many Merrimac residents live atop abandoned coal mine shafts, said Gibson.
Water lines extended to the area three years ago relieved some residents from using foul-smelling well water that stained laundry.
The new grant, which focuses on upgrading wastewater facilities, will eliminate a lagoon at the Oak Forest Trailer Park that serves 208 houses and sometimes overflows during heavy rains.
"We're going to resolve a possible health problem," Gibson said.
It will also replace troublesome septic systems at the Twin Lakes and Forest Park mobile home parks, which are operating at maximum capacity.
Construction on the new line is expected to begin next month. The new line will allow additional expansion of the public water system to reach more distant customers in the future.
by CNB