Published: April 29, 2008 09:38 pm      

Sewer survey, funds push Tazewell PSA project forward

TAZEWELL, Va. — A long-planned sewer project for the Baptist Valley section of Tazewell County could soon be under construction.

The $11.7 million project will provide sewage treatment services to an estimated 490 families in the community. Funding for the project is now in place, including an $8 million loan recently awarded by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to the county’s Public Service Authority at a 0 percent interest rate.

“We hope to get that one started before too long,” Earl Griffith, chairman of the county’s Public Service Authority, said of the Baptist Valley East Sewer Extension Project . “We are still working on that.”

Griffith said the PSA hopes to begin moving dirt on the project later this year.

“We are kind of shooting for that — but again you never know with all of the environmental issues we have to deal with,” Griffith said.

Griffith said a meeting is planned for next week on the sewer project. The PSA is expected to receive an updated construction schedule for the project at that time.

Survey work on the sewer project is currently underway, according to PSA comptroller Damon Ball.

Ball said officials have a lot of territory to cover as part of the surveying process.

A large-scale water project for the Baptist Valley community was completed several years ago. The sewer project has been in the planning stages for several years.

Griffith said environmental challenges continue to impact water and sewer projects in the county. Two years ago, the discovery of several endangered mussels slowed progress on the first phase of the Bluefield Divides Sewer Project.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com