Hardin County Water District No. 1 details expansion, grant spending and infrastructure repairs

Justin Metz, general manager of Hardin County Water District No. 1, told the Hardin County Fiscal Court that the district used federal and state grant funds to expand mains, shore up treatment capacity and repair damaged sewer lift stations.

Metz said the fiscal court awarded the district $5,550,000 in ARPA funds; the district has spent about $4,100,000 of that money and about $1,320,000 of cleaner-water grant funds from the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority (KIA). "We utilize 4,100,000.0 of the ARPA grant dollars already," he said.

The grants helped fund a Phase 1 rural main extension that cost $1,930,000, $1,800,000 of which came from county ARPA funds. That project installed about 35,500 feet of new mains on Greg Smallwood Road, Constantine Road, Needham and Laurel Ridge Road, Metz said. The lines serve 42 existing residences; 12 taps have been installed so far. Metz noted the per-customer capital cost is high for sparsely populated roads and said such projects would be nearly impossible without grant funding.

The district has 305 miles of water main and is currently installing about 38,000 additional feet through Phase 2 work, Metz said; once finished, roughly 10 miles of public roads in the district’s service territory will remain without mains. "That's right around 97% of our service territory is served…