BURLINGTON, Ky. — “The idea is to get water to people.”
It’s a simple plan, complicated by the fact that not everyone in Boone County has access to a public waterline.
“The rural part of our county get their water either from wells or from cisterns or they hull their own water in tanks,” Boone County Judge Executive, Gary Moore said. Moore is not a judicial judge. He said his role is similar to that of a county mayor.
Jonathan Sellers and Joel Bergantino both get their water from cisterns, a tank used to store drinking water.
“We are on a cistern and 90% of the water or more we just catch rainwater off the roof that kind of channels into the cistern and that’s the source of any drop that comes out of the faucet in our house,” Sellers said.
“I collect 100 percent of it,” Begantino said. “When it’s raining out it feels like nickels are hitting my roof because it’s free water.”
Bergantino said after a year and a half in his home, he ran out of water.
“I just ran out of water and had to, in a panic, get it shipped in as much as I could in a matter of five, six hours which is amazing, but what it caused to the rest of your house can be kind of detrimental,” he said.
Moore said the county has been working on getting public water access to every home in Boone County that wants it for the past 20 years.
“We feel like that it’s well past time that our residents have the ability to turn on the faucet and know that the water is coming through the utility, through the public line directly to their home,” he said.
Moore said this is a public safety matter.
“It’s about health,” he said. “But, it’s even more because it’s providing fire protection.”
He said the waterline will be big enough to have the necessary amount of pressure needed to install fire hydrants.
“The utility of having fire hydrants and fire protection also saves the homeowner a substantial amount of money on their homeowner's insurance.”
He said there will be a monthly surcharge, but he said it will cost less than half of what homeowners are paying “to either hull water or to be able to treat their own water.”
Moore said the rural water project will bring public drinking water to 98% of the county. Moore said construction is underway on KY 18 and the first phase of the project is 75% complete.
During phase 2 of the project, the Boone County Fiscal Court approved a waterline that will serve 300 homes. County Engineer Roberty Franxman gave a presentation to the fiscal court Tuesday night on a data-driven prioritized street list for phase three of the waterline project.
The street Sellers and Bergantino live on is a part of phase three. Franxman said this portion of the project will cost between $15- $17 million.
“It’s very big for homeowners and residents," Franxman said. "I probably get four to five calls a week asking when water is coming to their street."
He said phase three of the project could give between 365 - 411 homes access to a public waterline.
If approved it will bring a public waterline to 33-35 more streets in Boone County. Franxman said there are currently 150 streets in the county that don’t have access to one.
“If we build the waterline on the street, e ask for a commitment up front that folks will hook into, so at least 50% of the folks living on the street need to make that commitment, but not everybody has to tie into the waterline,” he said.
Sellers and Bergantino both said they won’t have a problem hitting that mark. The two collected signatures from almost everyone on their street and gave it to Moore two years ago.
Bergantino said this waterline will improve safety in their neighborhood because they don’t have fire hydrants on their streets.
Sellers said knowing his family is drinking clean water will be a big burden lifted off his soldiers.
“When you’re the only person that’s in charge of ensuring the safety of the water that’s come out of your taps it’s a burden to say the least, so alleviating that would be huge,” he said.
Moore said the project would also include Kelly Elementary.
“Currently they operate off a well and that well is treated and it’s tested, but it’s not as dependable as clean potable water through the utility and they currently don’t have fire protection other than pumps that would pull water from the well or the Ohio River," he said. "But, the pressure is not adequate for fire protection today. These new lines will bring all that to the school."
Moore said they are using federal funds, a $1 million grant from the state, and money from homeowners to fund the project.
If phase three gets approved, Franxman hopes to start construction in the summer of 2025.
