Hecla Water Association expects to finish its new water line projects this year.

Tuesday, January 23, 2001

Hecla Water Association expects to finish its new water line projects this year.

Work on a joint grant project with the county is progressing well, with some line installation complete, Hecla engineer Tim Dalton said.

"Where it has gotten cold, we’ve been taking care of meters and other problems, but we’re hoping as the weather turns into spring we can get more into the areas of the project," Dalton said.

Already, lines have been installed along Sharp’s Creek. Testing is still being done there.

The next project area is along Ohio 93 near White Oak, Fox Hollow and Prickly Ash.

Despite a year-end deadline on the project, Dalton expects the work to finish early.

For the water line project, the county was awarded about $600,000 in grant money in 1999 to match even more Hecla dollars to expand service along Ohio 93, Sharp’s Creek and several other areas to serve more than 250 people who currently rely only on home wells.

The water company and county grant writers worked fast to secure EPA and other documentation to begin the project, but encountered delays due to the drought’s effect on the water table.

Hecla needed to construct more wells to ensure permit authorities that there would be enough water to fill the new lines and serve customers in the future.

Those wells are finished and producing fine, even though the water table dropped at Hecla’s wells again this year, Dalton said.

Once each water line is installed, Hecla will start delivering water to them but they won’t be hooked up to homes.

"We’ll pressurize them to make sure there are no leaks, and then flush the lines," Dalton said

Then, a water sample must be tested and considered safe before screws can install the service connections, he said.

"The project has to be completed by the end of this year," Dalton said. "It should go in quickly."