Income surveys due to support South 43 grant opportunity

South 43 Water Association customers in Putnam County are advised that South 43 is attempting to qualify for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, and is currently seeking grant funding for the completion of engineering feasibility study.

The CDBG program is a federally funded grant program intended to benefit residents through various community development public assistance projects such as completing planning grants and construction projects for improvements to wastewater, water, roads and bridges.

To receive the federally funded grant dollars to complete the feasibility study, a special income survey must be completed.

The first batch of income surveys is expected to be mailed out to residents Friday (today), grant administrator Kristy Jerrell advised.

For anyone who receives an income survey in the mail from the West Central Indiana Economic Development District, this means you have been randomly selected to participate in this important process.

It is extremely vital, Jerrell stressed, that the survey be completed fully and returned in the self-addressed stamped envelope as soon as possible.

Persons may contact Jerrell, the grant administrator, at 812-238-1561 with any questions regarding this project or the income survey.

Residents' cooperation concerning this matter is greatly appreciated, she said.

South 43 Water Association is a not-for-profit that serves about 540 customers both north and south of Greencastle.

South 43 purchases all of its water from Greencastle, then distributes through water system that was mostly built in the late 1960s. Earlier this year there was a major line break, which took all day to fix and caused South Putnam schools to have to cancel classes that day.

At its last meeting, the South 43 board discussed that as the water system ages, such breaks are likely to happen again, spokesman Kathy Deer noted.

One solution would be to extend a water main to loop the system so it would not be necessary to shut off the school.

The project is expected to involve three miles of four-inch water main with a creek crossing and probable issues with digging into rock.

"We definitely need an engineering feasibility study to even know how much this would cost," Deer said, "and would want to start with a planning grant to get this off the ground."