MADISON — The village of Blanchardville is embarking on its largest water and wastewater projects in 15 years.
Proposed improvements include:
● Replacing electrical, piping, HVAC and control equipment at the village’s two well houses.
● Constructing chemical storage areas within each well house;
● Replacing an aging water and sewer main in portions of six streets; and
● Replacing communications equipment linking well houses, the wastewater plant and reservoir.
The Department of Natural Resources is aware of the corroding pipes in the well houses but Village Clerk Amy Barnes said the village is not waiting for the DNR to order the improvements.
“We’re being proactive before the DNR tells us we have to do this, which would probably cost us more money,” Barnes said Friday.
The village learned last year that federal grant funds would be available for the projects from its consultants at Town and Country Engineering, Inc. The village board agreed to pursue the projects and funding.
The USDA Rural Development agency has approved grants and 40-year loans at 3.12% interest for the projects.
The projects haven’t been bid yet, but the Rural Development has approved a $1.81 million loan for water system improvements and a $1.58 million loan for wastewater improvements for a combined $3.399 million, according to documents submitted to the Public Service Commission. The water system loan would have an $803,000 grant and the wastewater loan would have a $650,000 grant, reducing the payback amount to the village.
Plans call for the projects to be bid by early next year and construction to begin and be completed in 2020, which is a condition of the loans and grants, Barnes said.
Water and sewer mains will be replaced on Locust, Pine, Curve, E. Olson, Line and Cross Streets.
The village would save money by combining the water and wastewater projects instead of doing them piece meal, Barnes said, and financing the loans will probably require increases in the water and wastewater rates.
The village will have a water and sewer rate study conducted and probably file a water rate case with the PSC next year, a process that can take up to a year, she said. The village sets sewer rates locally.
The public will have an opportunity to comment on the cost, timing and need for the projects in each rate request.
“These are big projects for us. We haven’t had a full (water) rate case since 2004, when some sewer work was done,” said Barnes, who has been with the village since 2015.
Average residential customers currently pay $26.83 monthly for 4,000 gallons of water, and $57.01 in sewer charges. Water and sewer rates were each increased by 3% last October, Barnes said.
No estimates have been made regarding an increase in water or sewer rates. Any increase would factor in the project cost and expected rate of return on the value of the infrastructure investment.
The village is also applying for a Safe Drinking Water Loan through the DNR. The loans typically have much shorter term than federal funding, but the village would need the DNR loan if construction bids for the water system improvements come in higher than anticipated, Barnes said.
The DNR is currently seeking public comment on the water system projects. The DNR hasn’t found any significant environmental impact from the proposed construction which would take place within existing facilities or streets.
Written or verbal comments can be made by Sept. 26 to: Kevin Olson, Community Financial Assistance, Department of Natural Resources, CF/2 101 S Webster St., P.O. Box 7921, Madison, WI. 53707, or 608-266-9955.
Based on the comments received, the DNR’s loan program may prepare an environmental analysis before proceeding with the funding process. The analysis would summarize the DNR’s consideration of the impacts of the projects and reasonable alternatives.