News

$1 million grant clears way for Dana water line

By Bill Moss, Published: February 6, 2014

State agencies have awarded the city of Hendersonville grants of almost $1 million to fund the emergency water line serving Dana residents whose drinking water supply was found to be contaminated with a farm chemical.

After word of the state grant money, the City Council authorized a contract to start the work that will lead to city water for households that could no longer use their wells. Total cost of the project is estimated at just over $1 million.

The grants were announced in a Feb. 3 letter to the city from state Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary John E. Skvarla III and state Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker.
The state money came in the form of a $453,500 award from Community Development Block Grant contingency funds and a $200,000 grant from the Bernard Allen Memorial Emergency Drinking Water Fund.
"Additional funds from the Bernard Allen Fund will be available to close abandoned wells," the state leaders said in the letter. Last July Henderson County was awarded $300,000 from the Rural Economic Development Center.
"These grants are the results of the combined efforts of our Division of Waste Management and the Department of Commerce along with the tireless efforts of Senator (Tom) Apodaca to provide us the resources to navigate the complexities of this project," Decker and Skvarla said.

The City Council authorized a $747,438 contract for Cooper Construction Co. to run the line to the Academy Road area, where the contaminated wells were found. The council approved the work, pending the state’s release of the grant money.

Working with the city, Cooper Construction trimmed its bid amount so it was closer to the total available money. The total project cost including engineering and administrative cost was estimated at $1.075 million. After receiving state grants totaling $953,000, the city would fund the difference of $121,763.