February will mark the beginning of a project that has been in the planning stages for a year in South Point. It’s the replacement of 5,900 feet of eight-inch water lines in the village along County Road 1, Route 52 and on Third Avenue.

“Our main water line is the oldest system in the village, and we have more water leaks on it than any other thing,” Mayor Ron West said.

He added that in the past 40 years, there have been about 20 repairs on the water lines.

The project is budgeted at $386,315 and is funded with a grant that was approved last year.

“We are going to do the labor ourselves and will only have material costs,” West said.

Completion of the first part of the project is expected in two months, as a street where pipes will be replaced is scheduled to be blacktopped then.

“We will disturb the ground through there, putting the water line in, before we put the blacktop in,” he said.

When the pipes have leaked in the past, West said it is usually isolated and kept under control in the area, but it causes people to lose water and then have a boil-water advisory.

“It’s been a pretty big hassle,” West said.

He has an opinion on what has been the problem with the current pipes.

“The lines, when the contractor put the water system in South Point 40 years ago, I think he ran low on money and put a thinner grade of pipe in and that’s where the problems came in,” he said. “We are replacing it with plastic pipe, PVC.”

The project is expected to begin in early to mid-February, depending on the weather.