Scott County water district taking customers for Phase 2

BENTON, Mo. -- Latecomers were welcomed to Phase 1 of Scott County's rural water district but for this next portion it may be now or never.

"We're currently moving forward with Phase 2," said Tim McIntyre, district manager for Public Water Supply District No. 4 of Scott County. "It covers the northwest corner of the county."

There are about 1,200 potential customers in the Phase 2 area, according to McIntyre.

While there is a school at New Hamburg, Mo., and a few churches and small businesses, "the majority of them are residential," he said. "Right now we have about 475 customers signed up in Phase 2."

Only those who are in areas where Phase 2 water lines are planned can sign up, however.

"We have submitted the preliminary engineering report to the USDA and DNR," McIntyre explained. "Unfortunately, there are going to be regions in Phase 2 that are not going to be served at all because of a lack of user interest. When we do Phase 3, hopefully we can pick up some of those customers, but in Phase 2 they're probably not going to get served."

Once the contract is awarded for Phase 2, the water district will no longer be able to accept new hookups.

There is still "a lengthy process" to go through before the contract is awarded, according to McIntyre.

In addition to waiting on approval of the preliminary engineering report, the water district must also secure easements and complete some steps to finalize grant funding and loans before putting the construction out for bid.

"If customers are interested in signing up, they better do it in the next couple of months," McIntyre said. "In a month or so it's going to be too late to sign up. We've made an effort to send out information on how to sign up: we've done mailers, we've knocked on doors."

"The quicker we get people to sign up, the quicker we can get Phase 2 started," said Phil Lyon, president of the water district's board.

The water district's officials are concerned that because the water district accepted new connections after the contract was awarded for the first phase, some people might think they can sign up late for Phase 2.

"That is more than likely not going to happen in Phase 2," McIntyre said. "If you are not signed up by the deadline in Phase 2, chances are you are not going to get water. They don't understand the only reason it was that way in Phase 1 was because there were extra funds available. Because of the economy, everybody was looking for work when we bid the first phase."

Water district officials are not expecting bids to come in as low for Phase 2 as they did for Phase 1.

"I would be shocked if they did," McIntyre said.

Phase 1 is still moving ahead although progress has been slowed recently due to weather conditions.

"We are making residential connections. We still have a lot of hookups to do," McIntyre said. "We have probably 50 customers hooked up right now along with the two schools, Scott County Central and Kelly. We still have probably 770 to go. I look for them to have that all done by April."

For more information for signing up for Phase 2 or about the water district, go to www.pwsd4.com.