Putnam Mayor Focusing In On Two Areas To Possibly Expand Public Water

With public water approved for the Martin Creek Road area, Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter said he is looking for the next possible project.

Porter said the next two primary locations are Calfkiller Highway and the Brotherton Mountain, Woodcliff area.

“Working with those utility districts to see what we can do to service that area and a lot of it depends on the size of the utility district and depreciation and all the different things we have to look at to run the line, so we’re in those preliminary talks right now,” Porter said.

Porter said he has been working with Algood City Utility District and O’Connor Utility District. Porter said talks of the projects have been “very serious” but not without challenges.

“It’s a good problem to have to have the money to do it, but it’s a bad problem with supply change shortages and inflation,” Porter said. “The pricing is just unstable right now, so we’re having to be careful as to what we look at and make sure that we can fund whatever the project is.”

Porter said another challenge is the rocky terrain between Monterey and Algood. Porter said running a water line there would be more expensive and difficult.

“That’s some of the challenges that we have while doing this,” Porter said. “It’s a time consuming process to try and look at all that, but we’re working through it.”

Porter said the county has about $7 million left of state ARP funds earmarked for water and sewer infrastructure. Porter said the county saw the need after community feedback from a survey. Porter said the county gauged the interest of some 730 residents without public water in January.

Porter said one other off Macedonia Road of about 20 residents are also interested. Porter said