Frisco Road, Christian Circle and East Railroad Drive residents are fed up with no water, low water and rusty water that smells like rotten eggs. Discussions about the issues continued Tuesday night at the National Guard Armory on Fabritek Drive.
More than 30 residents attended the meeting, which offered the final opportunity for them to submit an application for a residential water connection from the East Lowndes Water Association. The application requires an income survey as well as a $75 deposit which will be refunded if the project falls through.
District 4 Supervisor Jeff Smith said residents who have not paid the $75 deposit and want to opt-in later will have to pay a $450 deposit to East Lowndes Water Association. So far, 29 residents have paid the deposit and filed the income survey, but four that expressed interest have not been reachable.
George Crawford, district planner for the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District, will submit a package in mid-May to the Mississippi Development Authority, in hopes of receiving a Community Development Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The project, which will connect 35 residents to the county water system, is expected to cost $239,725, Crawford said.
The board of directors for the East Lowndes Water Association will meet Monday night to decide how much money they will offer for their portion of the matching grant.
Part of the problem is the residents have shallow wells, and the water table has dropped considerably over the years — a fact many attribute to the proliferation of large industries with high water usage in the area.
Some residents have tried digging deeper wells, only to discover that eventually those aren’t deep enough either. Smith said the cost of digging wells deep enough to reach the water table could cost as much as $500,000.
He has received phone calls from his constituents for the past three years, he said, and he’s hopeful the grant will be approved and work can begin in six months, weather permitting.
“I know how difficult it can be not to have access to clean water,” he said. “My heart goes out to these people. I hope what we’re doing will lend some relief to their quality of life.”
Tim and Sherrie Walden said they’ve coped with foul-smelling water at their home and two rental houses since they moved to Frisco Road 12 years ago.
Priscilla Sherrod sometimes has no water at all, due to her shallow well.
“Now the water’s getting so you can’t take a full shower,” she said Tuesday night after the meeting. “Don’t even think about flushing the toilet, or you’re through.”
Last fall, Crawford submitted an emergency grant request to MDA, but it was rejected.
James Warren, 85, and his wife, Shirley Warren, 75, are among those hoping the new request is approved and the situation can soon be rectified. They moved to Christian Circle five years ago, and since that time, they have spent around $14,000 remodeling their home.
“We need the water real bad,” he said. “We’ve got to stay where we are, because we’ve put too much money in that place.”
Residents who signed up for the program at previous meetings but still need to pay their deposit or submit their income survey should call the East Lowndes Water Association at 662-324-7860.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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