Sumrall residents can look forward to some long-awaited drainage and sewer improvements, courtesy of two recent grants totaling $917,000 from the Mississippi Municipality & County Water Infrastructure Grant Program Act.
The act, which was created by the Mississippi Legislature and Gov. Tate Reeves, provided $200,000 for the drainage work and approximately $718,000 for the sewer work. Drainage work will take place in Ward 4 in the Lincoln Park area, while the sewer project will be implemented throughout the town.
Town officials were able to secure the grants with the help of Senator Joey Fillingane of Sumrall and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann.
“Since this administration came in (in 2021), the aldermen and I have been trying to make some headway with some long-standing problems in Ward 4 relating to drainage that has negatively impacted residents and churches, and the community at large,” Mayor Joel Lofton said. “We spent almost two years engineering the project and doing preparatory work for it.
“What we’re going to do is make sure Ward 4 is having the water flow out of that ward to the proper drainage areas. This is something that’s really been a long time coming, and I’m glad that we’re finally able to do it.”
The drainage work will consist of improved ditches and culverts and is likely to cost more than $300,000. Fortunately, town officials will be able to use money from the American Rescue Plan Act – the $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill designed to aid recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic – to fund the remainder of the cost.
“We’re required to have a match (for the grant), but they will allow us to use infrastructure money that came down through COVID,” Lofton said. “Basically, this will be done with little to no expense to the town budget.
“Now of course, grant monies are tax dollars; they come from somewhere, so in the long run we’ve all paid for it. But it’s a great boost to the town, to be able to access those dollars, and it’ll allow us to do a lot of other things in addition, that we would not have been able to do otherwise.”
One of the main spots in Ward 4 that has been impacted by standing water and flooding is St. Louis Missionary Baptist Church on New York Street. The basement of the church, which was built in 1904 and rebuilt in 1952, has experienced moisture problems that have, in the past, caused the cancellation of services.
“It’s a historical church, and they have sought to improve and renovate, and be able to do more there,” Lofton said. “But until the drainage is corrected, it’s all wasted dollars.
“This is an opportunity to help that situation and make it so when they’re ready to renovate, they’re not going to have to deal with the water problems that they do now. Water goes to low points, and this project will help move it on out.”
The sewage project will consist of intensive mapping of the town’s sewer system, which will identify any problems or issues in need of repair throughout the grid.
“It will be a substantial improvement for the first time in many years,” Lofton said. “It’ll give us a little more knowledge about where some of the problem areas are.
“We’ll be able to do this without having to dig up the entire system, through the use of some technology and cameras. We can go into the problem areas and find isolated solutions, which will, in the long run, save us some money and allow us to improve the system.”
Like the drainage project, town officials will be allowed to use some ARPA funds to head up the sewer work.
