Water flowing to Baptist Valley

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October 19, 2009

By GREG JORDAN

NORTH TAZEWELL, Va. — Ground was broken Monday for a water project that will create 711 new residential sewer service connections.

The Baptist Valley Sewer Project will serve the areas of Adria and Baptist Valley. Supporters met at the Baptist Valley Central Church of Christ to celebrate the project’s start.

“This is a great day to be thankful for what we have,” Tazewell County Administrator Jim Spencer told the project’s supporters.

The new sewer system will improve the residents’ quality of life and create new possibilities for economic development, said U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va.

“Currently, public wastewater services are not available in Baptist Valley, and residents rely on private septic systems,” Boucher said. “The soil conditions for septic systems in the area are poor, and the conditions prevent residents from making necessary septic system modifications and preclude any growth in the number of businesses and residents in the area. Additionally, the Baptist Valley area is in the Clinch Valley watershed, and the failing septic systems contribute to the river’s contamination.”

Extending sewage treatment service into Baptist Valley will also create new possibilities for residential growth and the expansion of business in the area, Boucher said.

Construction of the system is expected to be finished within 18 months.

Financing for the $10,161,678 project came from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality–Clean Water Revolving Loan Fund for $4,634,378; Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, $4 million; Southern Rivers Watershed Enhancement, $927,300; Southwest Virginia Water/Wastewater Fund, $100,000; Southeast Rural Community Assistance, $50,000; and the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors, $450,000.