By Stephen Smoot
Last week, the Pendleton County Public Service District held a public meeting to work with residents and potential customers. The board and engineers gave “individuals the opportunity to ask questions concerning the $1.5 million Sandy Ridge/Moatstown Water Line Extension and be able to sign easements that are needed.”
The PSD needed 72 easements signed prior to the meeting with only 15 having agreed. Officials went house to house to discuss the matter. Darrell Bodkin with the Pendleton County Public Service District explained that “this water project is going to go.” He explained that “we need 100 percent of easements signed by May 1. If we don’t, it’s going to postpone this thing”
Missing the deadline would certainly prolong the period in which the project would be built. It could also allow inflation to push prices for related goods and services above the budget set with the grant funding paying for the project.
One attendee asked about how the line would cross the roadway. Officials responded that the lines would mostly be run near the road. If they cross major roads, crews will bore underground. Driveways and gravel roads, they will cut and then fill in. Most pipe used will be four inches and will be buried three feet deep in most areas. Two booster stations will be placed along the route and air releases will be placed at key points as well.
The path is determined by expected “ease of construction, ease of getting customers their water, and ease of maintenance in the long run.”
With support from a partnership with United States Army Corps of Engineers, the project “involves removing and replacing water lines that are currently located within existing rights of way and previously disturbed areas.”
Additionally, “the project also proposes design and construction of a water line extension project along (Sandy Ridge Road) southwest from its intersection with (Thorn Creek Road) to the community of Moatstown . . . to just east of the Moatstown community in Sugar Grove.”
In additional news related to the project, on Jan 12, USACE prepared a draft environmental assessment concerning the project. This assessment, according to the USACE, “evaluated potential effects on the human environment” and reached a “Finding of No Significant Impact.”
Due to some environmentally sensitive elements in the Sandy Ridge and Moatstown area, however, the USACE has required mitigation measures. These include efforts “to minimize the amount of sediment that may be carried into waterways during construction” and limiting the construction period to Nov. 15 and March 31 “to minimize adverse effects to roosting Indiana bats.”
The project also poses no threat to items of historical, cultural, or tribal significance.
