County Changes Direction on Hazard Grant Application

Fayette County had planned to apply for a massive federal hazard mitigation grant to upgrade some low water crossings on county roads. That project has been put on hold for now. Instead, the County will apply for a grant to build a water pipeline to connect public water supply systems around the county.

The grant funds are part of the billions of dollars in aid that the federal government distributed to states following Hurricane Harvey. Fayette County Emergency Management Chief Craig Moreau is heading up the County’s grant application. Moreau said the County had to change plans because the plan to raise the low water crossings was too cheap.

“We ran into some hurdles on the low water crossing project,” Moreau said. “We had trouble getting up to the minimum dollar amount for the grant.”

The minimum amount that the County could apply for was $3 million. Grants are awarded based on a point system. To score competitively, Moreau said the County must show that at least 50 percent of the people benefiting from the project qualify as having low to medium income (LMI).

“The way the points are, it’s almost impossible to get funded without the LMI piece of puzzle,” Moreau said.

So the County went back to the drawing board and came up with another project – interconnecting several water systems throughout the County. The project would involve Fayette Water Supply Corporation, the City of Flatonia, the City of La Grange and Ellinger Sewer and Water Corporation. Moreau said the interconnection would bolster the reliability of the four systems when disasters strike.

During Hurricane Harvey, for example, the La Grange water system went down. After the pumps came back online, the City had to issue a boil water notice that lasted over a week. The Ellinger community has been dealing with water quality and supply issues for years.

“This will be a public-private partnership,” Moreau said. “This is a massive infrastructure project that will help interlink water in Fayette County. We’ve had trouble during floods and hurricanes in the past when one part of the County had water but other parts didn’t. There was no way to share.”

The project would involve connecting the four systems with a 12-inch pipe. If the water goes down in one area, the system could supply water from other areas.

The project is estimated to cost $24,526,234. If awarded, the County would have to match just one percent of the award amount.