ONWASA to receive stimulus funds

While Onslow County roads may not benefit from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, several water projects in the area will.

The Onslow Water and Sewer Authority board of directors voted unanimously at a workshop Thursday to accept ARRA funds for two projects that were applied for through North Carolina Public Water Supply. ONWASA board member Marvin Trott, mayor of Richlands, did not attend the workshop.

“They were the two that were shovel-ready and I guess they think they’re good projects,” said ONWASA Chairman Jim Allen, a Swansboro commissioner.

The first project funding is for the construction of two new supply wells to address mandatory withdrawal reductions. Central Coast Plain Capacity Use Area regulations require water users to cut back on the use of overused aquifers and increase use of other water sources.

The wells will be located at U.S. 17 and Folkstone Road. ONWASA will receive $451,000 worth of ARRA funding for the projects. Half of the funding will be in the form of a revolving loan with zero-percent interest and 20-year repayment term and the other half will be a principal forgiveness loan, which does not have to be repaid.

The second project funding is for the construction of 9,000 linear feet of 12-inch raw water pipeline to connect to an existing raw water pipeline to the Dixon Water Treatment Plant. This project is receiving $778,000 worth of ARRA funding, with half of the funding part of a zero-interest revolving loan and the other half a principal forgiveness loan.

Allen said the construction of the wells will increase a backup water supply, which is needed in the county.

“If we were to have a water shortage we would have these wells to fall back on,” he said. “We are growing real fast so we will always be looking for more water.”

Board member Barbara Ikner, an Onslow County Board of Commissioners representative, said completing these projects with the aid of ARRA funds is a way for ONWASA to plan for the county’s future.

“Right now I think the water supply in the south end of the county is adequate … but in the future this end of the county will be seeing quite a bit of need,” she said.

For newly appointed director Jerome Willingham, a Jacksonville city councilman, the decision was easy.

“It’s hard to imagine a better deal unless you had a 100-percent grant from the stimulus. If the stimulus funds aren’t available and go to other jurisdictions then ONWASA is in a position of having to tax, if you will, through impact fees and users rates, the residents of Onslow County,” he said.

Both of the projects benefiting from ARRA funds are part of the Capital Improvement Plan, which is another reason Willingham said he was in favor of accepting the funds.

“When ONWASA had the opportunity to receive $615,000 worth of stimulus money for something they had committed themselves to anyways, it made sense to accept the stimulus funding,” he said.

Ikner said although she does not like the idea of incurring more debt for ONWASA, the provisions of the ARRA funding combined with the projects themselves make it worthwhile.

“It will, in the long run, save ONWASA thousands of dollars because the project is under way,” she said. “Of course I don’t want to increase debt, but I believe the $30,000 annual payback would be a number that we are capable of absorbing into the budget.”

While Allen said he is glad to have the ARRA funding for the two water projects, he would have preferred to receive funding for sewer projects.

“We had some that were being worked on, but we didn’t have the permits and the design to go to construction,” he said. “We didn’t have any (sewer projects) that qualified.”