By Betsy Finklea
The Latta water and sewer system and the phases to upgrade it was discussed at a recent meeting.
Engineer Mike Hanna said the town had been funded in the amount of $2.6 million for phase one of the project. Phase one will include repairing the lines on Highway 301, a new meter system, and an inspection of all sewer lines where they will graded and new maps created. The line affected on Highway 301 will begin at approximately Atlantic Shutters and end approximately at Dollar General with one block being skipped. Phase one will have a mid-summer start and fall completion date.
Phase two includes building a water tank in the downtown area, He applied for a $1.8 million SRF loan for the project. Hanna said the old tank which has been offline for about 15 years was a 75,000 gallon water tank. The current tank holds only 100,000 gallons. He said the Town of Latta should have a 300,000 gallon tank in town. He said after applying for the $1.8 million grant, they were awarded $996,000 in grant money. This would be enough to build a 150,000 gallon tank so they need another pot of money to get the ultimate goal of 300,000 gallons. He applied to Rural Development for another $800,000 to $900,000 which with the other funds would promise a new water tank of the correct size and a nice line. The tank will last 75 to 100 years if properly kept up. The towq old tanks would be a single pedestal tank.
The next phase would be a sewer line replacement hopefully with funds from the Rural Infrastructure Authority. The next phase after that would be water line replacement. These two phases would require match money.
The timeline to complete all phases could be four to seven years.
Hanna said the goal is to use the money in the best way possible for the citizens of Latta and to keep the rates as low as possible.
There was discussion by some in attendance about the town possibly selling out to the Grand Strand Water and Sewer Authority.