GOVAN -- After almost a decade of planning and work to secure funding, the Town of Govan is at last seeing the fruits of its labor become reality. Work crews installing water lines this week as part of a joint regional water project in cooperation with the neighboring town of Olar.

Govan Mayor John Ganus said construction is long overdue but he is thrilled that tangible progress is finally being made.

"I signed the work order for the crews to begin laying the pipe last Wednesday," Ganus said. "On Monday morning of this week, the pipe was being delivered to the Govan Volunteer Fire Department. Fire Chief Mike Epperson called and woke me up, telling me he was ecstatic that work was finally beginning."

Ganus said he estimates the entire Govan phase of the regional water expansion project could be completed by the end of the year.

"That will include the installation of new water meters, 15 new fire hydrants in town, a new well and the well house, which is where water treatment will take place," he said. "The well house will also include a diesel generator that will provide emergency backup in case power is interrupted."

Ganus added, "It is my opinion that the entire project - both the Govan and Olar ends of it - could be complete 18 months from now. Contracts for the remainder of the work have not yet been let."

Last month, one federal agency providing some of the funding for the regional water project requested additional documentation from the Town of Olar concerning title searches on the properties that the proposed water line will cross.

"No pipe has yet been delivered or construction begun on our end because the Olar portion of the project hasn't yet been fully approved," Olar Town Clerk Tom Harris said.

Govan Fire Chief Mike Epperson said the biggest benefit of the water system improvements for his fire department will be having fire hydrants where no usable facilities currently exist.

"Recently, we had a structure fire in town where we had to shuttle in all the water that we used," Epperson said. "If we have a hydrant system to which we can hook up, it frees up another unit that we can use at the fire site."

"Since having a reliable water source is 40 percent of a fire department's ISO rating, having the new water system up and running will be a huge benefit," the fire chief added. "Currently, we have an ISO rating of 10. We've already scheduled an ISO inspection for August or September, and I feel certain our rating will improve at that time. Adding fire hydrants may allow us to cut that rating in the future by half."

Govan began planning the regional water expansion with Olar five years ago. Ganus said Govan actually started planning its own water system improvements three years prior to that.

"The town of Govan received a Community Development Block Grant of $500,000 to upgrade the water system approximately 2-1/2 years ago," he said. "Other funding for the regional water project was also received from USDA Rural Development, the Environmental Protection Agency and the state Budget and Control Board."

Ganus said the reason it took so long for actual construction to begin is because Govan had to replace the firm that was doing the initial engineering reports about a year into the work with another firm.

Govan's current water storage capacity is 5,500 gallons, which is held in a ground-level tank that presents its own problems.

"Since the town's water tank is on the ground, we don't have the assistance of gravity to help us keep the water pressure up," the mayor said. "We use a small air compressor to pump air in from the top to produce the necessary pressure."

Ganus noted the Govan-Olar regional water project will include a new 150,000-gallon water tank and a new pump with a capacity of 350,000 gallons per minute upon completion, plus another backup pump and well in Olar.

"Govan and Olar sit astride the U.S. 321 and CSX Railroad corridor," Ganus said. "Improving the water system will go hand in hand with the large amount of available land we have to encourage economic and residential development. It also will greatly help the quality of life for citizens already here and those we expect to come."

T&D Correspondent Phil Sarata can be reached by e-mail at pmhsarata@aol.com. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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