5/4/04

Town Receives $750,000 Grant for Reuse Water System Construction
Phase I of Reuse Water System Project to be Coupled with Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion in 2005

This spring, to provide for the Town’s continuing growth, the Town of Holly Springs began design on an expansion to its wastewater treatment facility. In conjunction with the plant expansion, the Town is working to incorporate components into the wastewater treatment standards to recycle wastewater into irrigation water that will be distributed through a reuse water system. The combined project is expected to cost from $6.5-$8 million. Recently, Holly Springs was awarded a $750,000 federal State and Tribal Assistance Grant from US Representative David Price’s office to help fund the project. The Town also has applied for an additional grant from the NC Clean Water Management Trust Fund to fund more components of the project.

The wastewater treatment facility expansion components will allow Holly Springs to process an additional 1 million gallons of wastewater per day. The average residential property produces 200 gallons of wastewater per day, and commercial properties generate even more wastewater, depending on the type of business. Construction will begin after design and permitting is completed, expected to be in spring, 2005.

The reuse water system component of the project calls for incorporating upgrades into plant construction, plus possibly the installation of a reuse water line in the streets in front of businesses, homes, parks and schools along Irving Parkway, from Irving Parkway east on Holly Springs Road to Bass Lake Road, and along Bass Lake Road to connect to existing abandoned lines that the Town has preserved for this system. Later phases of the reuse water system would install reuse water lines along other roadways in Town. Taps to the reuse line would be voluntary.

Currently, most Holly Springs property owners use drinking water for irrigation, and the Town’s wastewater is treated and discharged into Utley Creek. The switch to using reuse water for irrigation would preserve drinking water, a valuable natural resource, while reducing property owners’ water bills. And, reuse water supplies would not be restricted during droughts.

“The wastewater treatment plant expansion project will allow the Town to continue its planned growth,” said Stephanie Sudano, director of the Town’s Engineering Department, who pursued the grant. “The reuse water system project that we are incorporating into the expansion will enable us to ensure that the growth happens in an environmentally conscious manner. The reuse system will give property owners an environmentally friendly and cost-effective option for irrigation.”

Sudano said that Price played a major role in securing the $750,000 grant for the project, putting the project on the final request list after Sudano visited with him during the Rural Water Association’s annual visit to congressional representatives in Washington, D.C., last year.

Town of Holly Springs - PO Box 8 - 128 South Main Street - Holly Springs, NC 27540 - (919) 552-6221 - Holly.Springs@hollyspringsnc.us