Brandon Receives $4.3 Million Water Grant

Jun. 1, 2022

Source: Rankin County News - By Linda Horton and Sabrina Dalton, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg District

BRANDON - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Vicksburg District entered into a Project Partnership Agreement (PPA) with the City of Brandon on Tuesday, May 17, as part of the Mississippi Environmental Infrastructure Pro- gram (Section 592).

The signing ceremony was held at Brandon City Hall. Mayor Butch Lee signed the PPA for the City of Brandon and Col. Robert Hilliard, Vicksburg District commander, signed for USACE.

"Work on the 592 is so rewarding, because you can see how it directly benefits communities and people," said Hilliard. "When you think about investing in America's infrastructure, we're proud to be a part of this project and how it will help people."

The City of Brandon's water system improvements will include the design and construction assistance for a water tower for a total cost of $4.38 million. This cost share agreement is 75 percent federally funded and 25 percent non-federally funded.

Mayor Lee said the city's plan was to put in a new water well, and hopefully a new water tower.

"We are calling it the Cornerstone Water Well, which will be in the northeast quadrant part of the city, Lee said. “We have already secured the property. We still have to do a "wetlands" assessment and a "cultural" assessment on the property." He said that once the two assessments satisfied, the plan is to move forward with the project that will tie into two dead-in mains.

"One main goes into Cornerstone and comes out close to Grants Ferry Road," Lee explained. "The other dead-in goes into Trickembridge Road and will begin to loop in water from two different directions. So, when you have one water system go down, you don't lose pressure or water,

According to Lee, this, is a big deal for the City of Brandon. The project will improve water availability for all of Grants Ferry all the way down to the commercial property by the Co-Op and over toward Ambiance. There is a portion of Evergreen Drive that is in the city. This is a means to getting water to them as well.

"This is something we have been work towards and are very happy to be getting some grant money, even though we have to meet certain requirements, we are happy to be getting $3.4 million worth of money to help accomplish this,' Lee said. "The thing with this project is we will be connecting all of the dead in mains."

Lee gave an example of the benefits. He said that should the water be cut off around the Interstate, Trickembrige area would not have any water. Or if there is a waterline break somewhere on Hwy 471, around Fedrick's or Dollar General, no one in Ambiance or in the back half of Cornerstone will have water. A loop prevents this from happening because water is coming from more than one direction.

"This is a critical element for potable water, drinking water and very important for fire protection," Lee stressed. "This is a much needed in- frastructure need. It is going to allow us to move quicker than we originally wanted to. Our pie-in-the-sky would be getting something under construction by the end of the summer."

"The 592 Program is unique to the state of Mississippi. No matter the US- ACE district the city is in, the Vicksburg District covers the whole state, making us the best partner in the valley; Hilliard said.

The Section 592 Program provides environmental assistance to non-federal interests in Mississippi. Assistance may be in the form of design and construction assistance for water-related environmental infrastructure and resource protection and development projects in Mississippi. This includes, but is not limited to, projects for wastewater treatment and related facilities, elimination or control of combined sewer overflow, water supply and related facilities, environmental restoration, and surface water resource protection and development. Assistance may be provided only for projects that are publicly owned and the non-federal interest must enter into a written cost share agreement to furnish its required cooperation for the project.

The USACE Vicksburg District is engineering solutions to the nation's toughest challenges. The Vicksburg District encompasses a 68,000-square-mile area across portions of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana, that holds nine major river basins and incorporates approximately 460 miles of mainline Mississippi River levees. The Vicksburg District is engaged in hundreds of projects and employs approximately 1, 100 personnel.