BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — Fixing the sewer lift station at Saltwell Road in Inez will become part of the $3.1 million sewer line extension project on New Route 3.
Martin County Fiscal Court approved funding and administration agreements for the project during an April 20 meeting, prompting questions from District 1 Magistrate Cody Slone about how the inoperable lift station at Saltwell would handle the added volume from Davella.
“My main concern about the project is putting more waste in the creek at Saltwell than what we already have,” said Slone. “The issue is the lift station at Saltwell is a four-pump station, but for the previous years has had one pump pumping. Now it has no pump pumping, so we’re not getting any farther than Saltwell, and the waste from Debord and Davella will go into Saltwell.”
Slone also said a lift station at Davis Branch on New Route 3 was not sized sufficiently to handle the added volume the sewer line extension project would create.
Big Sandy Area Development District director Eric Ratliff, who attended the meeting to get the project agreements approved, told Slone, “We can’t let that happen. We’ll make sure those stations are upgraded to accept the additional flow coming from Davella Road.”
The county will contract with Big Sandy ADD to provide project planning and administration.
“Judge, I wanted to let you know that we will have a board briefing May 1 to secure the money for the generators for the raw water intake, Route 40 East pump station and Route 40 West pump station,” Ratliff told Judge/Executive Lon Lafferty. “That’s a $1.3 million project that will run through the water district. When you experience electrical outages from ice storms and wind storms, you’ll be able to turn those generators on and pump water from those two stations out to the county. In the past, if the power went out from an ice storm or wind storm, you would just be shut down. It’s grant money, also, coming through FEMA.”
Ratliff said Big Sandy ADD had applied for Abandoned Mine Lands funding to improve the Inez wastewater treatment plant.
“We feel like that one has a good shot,” said Ratliff.
The sewer project will extend sewer service from Debord to Davella on New Route 3 and along Davella Road, providing approximately 97 customers with access to sewer facilities for the first time. According to the project profile on the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority website, it will also eliminate a private package sewage treatment plant in Davella. The project also includes developing a capital improvement plan for the Martin County Sanitation District.
After the meeting, Judge Lafferty said he would never allow a situation like Slone described.
“I would stop the construction at that point if need be,” Lafferty said. “I assure you that it won’t come to that. I have a plan.”
