Funding Agencies On Board With Spencer’s Caney Fork River Project

Spencer will pursue an additional $4 million in order to fund its Caney Fork River water project.

The $6 million dollar project will construct the needed infrastructure to use the river as the city’s water source. Mayor Alisa Farmer said the next step in the work is moving forward.

“We’ve discussed this with USDA and the state revolving loan program,” Farmer said. “We had a conference call about this last week, and all funding agencies are in agreement to help us with this.”

The Board of Aldermen accepted $2.1 million from Van Buren County as a part of the project. The county commission agreed to use the majority of its American Rescue Plan money to assist the city.

Before work can start, Farmer said the city will need to conduct an environmental study on the river. Farmer said endangered fish species may inhabit where the city plans to enter the river.

“There’s some endangered species there, and they won’t say if it is located in the area that we want to disturb,” Farmer said. “Therefore, we are going to have to do an aquatics which is going to cost thousands to be able to do that before we can even go forward with anything else.”

Farmer said the city is currently is searching for a firm to conduct the study. Farmer said the project overall will take up to four years to complete.