OKTIBBEHA COUNTY – East Oktibbeha Wastewater District is nearly halfway done with a $1.4 million sewer expansion into the northeastern part of the county, while expansion south of Starkville remains stalled despite more than 200 residents paying deposits toward the project.
“It will come,” Dwight Prisock, manager for the district, told The Dispatch on Tuesday. “It’s just a matter of when.”
The county in 2022 initially committed $7 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds, which would have been doubled by a state match, to expand sewer infrastructure along Highway 182 and in rural areas south of Starkville. Last year, the county reallocated most of the funds to other projects, saving only $700,000 to cover a smaller portion of the project and leaving the larger expansion in limbo.
The smaller project, which began in July, includes installing a sewer line parallel to Highway 182 from Hickory Grove Road to near the county line and upgrading service at the Habitat for Humanity subdivision on 16th Section Road.
Prisock said the work, expected to serve about 300 households, should be complete by early next year.
“The line from Hickory Grove Road to almost the county line is probably 70% installed, and the expansion of the Habitat subdivision is … maybe not quite that much,” Prisock said. “And then we’ve got some laterals that are going to be installed. So we’ve got a good bit of pipe in the ground.”
However, the new lines can’t be activated until Starkville’s wastewater treatment plant expands its capacity.
“They’ll be installed and ready to work, but we won’t actually connect them (or) put customers on it until the city can handle it,” Prisock said.
Improvements to the city’s wastewater treatment plant began in July following a 2024 study warning that city growth would soon outpace infrastructure. The $8.9 million project will add a new headworks facility, restore clarifiers and replace six aerators. The project is part of a greater $92 million, 20-year plan to modernize Starkville’s water and sewer systems.
More capacity should be available at the plant by mid-to-late 2027, at which point East Oktibbeha Wastewater District may need to revise its flow agreement with the city before additional developments can be serviced, Starkville Utilities General Manager Edward Kemp told The Dispatch
Deposits held in limbo
While construction moves forward in the northeast, the wastewater district is sitting on about $22,000 in residential deposits for expansion into rural areas south of Starkville, along Williams, Bethel, Poorhouse and surrounding roads, with no construction date in sight.
Prisock said in the last several years, about 220 residents in those areas have paid $100 deposits to buy into the project. Those funds are being held in an account with the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District, he said.
“We’re just trying to get everything up, and we have told the people it might be a while,” Prisock said. “We told them that initially, and then the money came available, and then the money went away, and now there’s a … treatment plant issue. … If they wanted their money back, we’d give them their money back, but most of them that I’ve talked to, they just let it ride, knowing that at some point in the future they’ll get service as soon as we can make it happen.”
Sean Stokes, a Bent Tree Road resident, said he paid his deposit between three and four years ago, but he hasn’t heard any updates on the project since then. Stokes, who recalls paying more than $3,000 to replace septic tank field lines on his property, said having sewer infrastructure in the area would be beneficial to residents.
“The septic tank is … going to constantly have issues because there’s no place really for the water to flow very well,” Stokes said. “That would be one benefit for this, to where the runoff would go into this waste water that they would be installing, and then we wouldn’t have to deal with things like field lines.”
Once the city’s treatment plant can accommodate more flow, Prisock plans to seek funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to move forward with the expansion.
The district currently holds a $5.3 million USDA grant from 2019, which funded sewer lines in Sheely Hills, University Estates and surrounding areas, adding about 300 customers. Prisock expects that grant to close by year’s end before new funding applications can be submitted.
Prisock said monthly revenue and costs for the wastewater district are “running about even,” leaving the district without funds to go toward its own capital improvement projects.
Residents can refund their deposits through GTPDD at any time, though Prisock said holding out could save them as much as $6,000 down the line.
“If you have a deposit up and you are included in the project, the cost for the grinder pump and installation is included,” Prisock said. “If you’re not in the project, then you can connect, but the cost to connect belongs to that person.”
Residents will still have an opportunity to buy into the project when expansion plans are put into motion, Prisock said.
Stokes said he’s still hopeful the expansion will eventually come to fruition.
“I still have the flier on my refrigerator with hope that maybe one day it will come my way,” he said.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
