RIA grants to help with water line upgrades

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By Stan Welch
While no official notification has been received by town officials yet, Senator Mike Gambrell has confirmed the awarding of a $650,000 grant to the town of Williamston. The grant was awarded Monday at a meeting of the committee that oversees the Rural Infrastructure Authority (RIA)
Senator Gambrell said the grant was awarded on his motion to do so. “The town worked really well with the staff at the RIA and elevated the status of the application from a category two to a category one. That placed it in the top three applications being considered.”
The grant will be used to replace a number of water lines that have low pressure. “A lot of lines in the old mill village area are very old, and a good many of them are galvanized, which tends to close down from the inside,” said Mayor Durham. “We will be replacing a lot of lines in that area, but there are also several other areas that will receive attention.”
Two other grants were approved for Powdersville and Belton- Honea Path as well, according to Senator Gambrell. The Powdersville grant will be used to install a supply line to a business for fire protection, while the funds to BHP Water Authority will be used to do some work on water tanks at the plant site.
“Those were the top three applications that the committee considered. In every case, the RIA staff did great work assisting these different entities in presenting their case as well as they could. Happily, the results were all favorable. It was a pleasure to be able to help all those folks. This is a great case of returning money to the taxpayers.”m