Bill would hike funds for rural water upgrades

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  • Rural water and wastewater improvement projects
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OKLAHOMA CITY – A measure pending in the state Legislature would earmark more state funds for rural water and wastewater improvement projects next year.

House Bill 3050 by state Rep. Trey Caldwell, R-Lawton, would appropriate $5 million to the Rural Economic Action Plan (REAP) Water Projects Fund in Fiscal Year 2021 (July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021).

The $5.4 million appropriations to the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) for FY 2020 included $1.85 million for the REAP Water Projects Fund, state House of Representatives Fiscal Division ledgers show.

The OWRB on Jan. 21 awarded a $99,999 REAP grant to Cement, a Caddo County town of approximately 500 residents, for a wastewater system improvement project.

The inlet pipe to the primary sewage lagoon has filled with sludge and is unable to convey wastewater into the pond. Joe Freeman, chief of the Water Board’s Financial Assistance Division, said the grant will be used to remove the sludge from the primary pipe and to make some other, minor improvements.

Also, on Jan. 21 the OWRB awarded a $79,999 REAP grant to Roosevelt, a Kiowa County community of approximately 250 population, for a water system improvement project.

The town’s elevated water storage tank does not meet federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations. The state grant will be used to clean, sandblast and paint the water storage tank and to make improvements to the tank that are required by OSHA, Freeman said.

‘BACKLOG OF NEEDS’

“Throughout Oklahoma, we have a pressing backlog of water sustainability, water safety, water purification, and sewage treatment needs,” Caldwell said. “This additional $5 million would be a good first step toward alleviating some of these concerns and moving the water and wastewater safety needs of all Oklahomans forward.”

The State Board of Equalization in December certified $8.3 billion in funds available for appropriation by the Legislature in FY 2021.

The REAP was created in 1996 and helps finance capital improvements in communities of fewer than 7,000 residents.

The Legislature appropriated $13,126,817 to the REAP for Fiscal Year 2020, ledgers show. Those funds are allocated to 11 regional economic development districts (Association of South Central Oklahoma Governments, the South Western Oklahoma Development Authority, ACOG, NODA, EODD, OEDA, SODA, INCOG, COEDD, Grand Gateway EDA and Kiamichi Development Association) for local projects.

Those projects frequently include public buildings, water, and wastewater lines, sewage lagoons, street repairs, water storage tanks, etc.

2019-20 REAP GRANTS FINANCE WATER/SEWER PROJECTS IN SW OKLA.

ASCOG approved more than two dozen REAP grants for capital improvements in its eight-county service area this year. Nine of those REAP grants are for water/waste- water projects, including:

• Carnegie, $45,000 for water meter installation and supplies;

• Chattanooga, $45,000 for water tower exterior maintenance;

• Devol, $40,500 to replace a sewer main;

• Fort Cobb, $45,000 for rehabilitation of a water storage standpipe;

• Geronimo, $45,000 for an engineering evaluation of whether to repair or replace water and sewer lines on all streets between Chippewa east and Osage Street; 

• Grandfield, $59,041 for a wastewater treatment project; • Randlett, $45,000 for a wastewater disposal system engineering evaluation;

• Ryan, $45,000 for water repairs, maintenance, plus repair and replacement of old pipes and valves;

• Tipton, $42,000 for a sewer system engineering evaluation.

REAP grants for three water system improvement projects in SWODA’s eight-county region were awarded last July. They were:

• Headrick, in Jackson County, $43,840 for water tower improvements;

• Gotebo, in Kiowa County, $64,240 for water line replacement;

• East Duke, in Jackson County, $75,000 for painting water storage towers.

PREVIOUS REAP PROJECTS

Other water projects in southwest Oklahoma in recent years that have been financed totally or partially with REAP grants included:

• The water storage standpipe in Mountain Park, in Kiowa County, was sandblasted and repainted and its rusted 8-inch outlet line was replaced; the improvements were financed with a $99,500 REAP grant from the OWRB in 2016.

• The Stephens County town of Comanche had high levels of trihalomethanes (THMs) at a sampling point in its water distribution system “due to water stagnating in the pipe,” officials lamented. (THMs are a potentially harmful disinfection by-product formed by the reaction of chlorine and other disinfectants with naturally occurring organic matter and inorganic chemicals in raw water.)

A new 6-inch-diameter water line was constructed and connected to the city’s existing 6-inch water line to create a dynamic loop and prevent the treated water from stagnating. A $150,000 REAP grant from the OWRB in 2016 was coupled with $18,367 in local funds to finance the project, records reflect.

• Similarly, the town of Tipton was under a consent order from the state Department of Environmental Quality for violating maximum THM limits. The Tillman County community received a $99,500 REAP grant from the OWRB in 2013 to correct the problem.