Edgecombe receives $650,000 for water-sewer, study Princeville system

T.J. ROYAL

Edgecombe County will receive more than $650,000 in grant money from the N.C. Rural Center for the county's water and sewer districts projects.

The Rural Center announced that $625,000 in grants will go towards extending sewer service "to an area where individual treatment systems have proved inadequate, resulting in groundwater contamination."

The Rural Center said Edgecombe County will also receive $40,000 for Water and Sewer District 3. That is for mapping the water distribution and sewer collection systems of the Town of Princeville, to determine leakage problems and estimate costs for their improvement.

Edgecombe County Water and Sewer Director Mike Matthews said the $625,000 will go towards installing sewer lines all along New Hope Church Road in Dunbar, in Water District 5, so "around 50" people will be able to receive sewer service once that project is completed.

Since the sewer project is in its beginning phase, Matthews said it is not clear now how much more funding would be needed to complete the District 5 project.

"We definitely want to run sewer wherever we can. We, of course, want to apply for everything we can, and run as much sewage (line) as we can" within the district, Matthews added.

The Water District 5 project, which is separate from the sewer project, should be completed this month, he said. It will include the Leggett, Battleboro and Whitakers areas, north of U.S. 64 and west of N.C. 33 north of Tarboro.

In District 3, County Manager Lorenzo Carmon said the Rural Center's $40,000 to study Princeville's water system is "how we started with the Speed and Leggett water systems."

Last June, Princeville Town Manager Sam Knight wrote to Carmon that the town would be interested in having the county takeover its water system.

The Leggett water system is already part of Water District 5. As Water District 3 is scheduled to be completed in early 2011, the Speed water system will be hooked into the county's water system by that time.

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