Hinkle Mountain and Little Laurel Road, Nicholas County, near Richwood, West Virginia are infamously known for being the only unwatered spots in the county.
According to Mayor Robert Johnson, there has been hope for decades that Richwood would finally be able to upgrade and use its wastewater treatment plant and to supply the hundred or so residents whose wells are getting so dirty they can’t even use the water to do laundry.
The upgrade, including infrastructure changes, will cost around $7.5 million. Mayor Johnson says it is totally worth it.
WAJR reports:
“Johnson hopes the necessary upgrades to the Richwood Waste Water Plant will begin sometime in 2017. After that, construction could take between 12 and 18 months to complete.
“Construction in West Virginia is often dictated by the season and the weather, and obviously there is a limited number of construction months,” Johnson said.
30 years and more this project remains in the making, but Johnson said he can see a light slowly approaching from the end of a long tunnel.
“We believe that the work is worth it, and the customers have continued to be supportive throughout this most recent process,” Johnson said. “And maybe there wasn’t as cohesive enough effort in times past.”
It’s excellent that in this case good public policy and economics cross paths – Richwood invests in its infrastructure, picks up new revenue from new water customers, and provides cleaner and cheaper water for a group of residents who have asked for it for more than three decades. Win-win all round.
Inframanage.com observes the long-time period in bringing this project to construction.
Many times in infrastructure management there can be a significant lag between planning and the planned work being completed.
Having completed infrastructure management planning, at least decision-makers and communities will have a good understanding of the likely scenarios for building assets, timeframes and costs.
PHOTO CREDIT: By youngamerican at the English language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42314451
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