Following the completion of the Rattle Creek Waterline Extension Project earlier this year, several residences in the Rattle Creek Road community were connected to WCSA\u2019s water service, providing them with clean and dependable access to clean drinking water for the very first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These\ncommunity members no longer have to worry about unsafe drinking water during periods\nof heavy rainfall, low water pressure for showers and washing machines, manually\nhauling water from the spring whenever a power outage prevented the water pumps\nfrom working, or water freezing underground during very cold weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wanda Bailey\nhas lived nearly her entire life in the Rattle Creek Road community. For a\nnumber of years, three families drew water from a large, abundant spring for\nall their needs, but eventually her family was the only one still tapping into\nthe nearby source. Despite its plentiful supply, water pressure into the home\nvia a submersible pump was far from optimal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhile I\nalways had a good supply of water from the spring, I had pressure issues,\u201d\nBailey said. \u201cShowers and filling up the washing machine took a long time, and\ndebris in the spring water would build up and I\u2019d have to clean our filters\npretty often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf\ntemperatures dropped below freezing in winter, I had to leave the water\ndripping or the lines would freeze. If the water froze underground, I\u2019d have to\nwait until it got warm enough to thaw it out before I had water again. At any\ntime of the year, if the power went out, so would the pump, and I\u2019d have to go\ndown to the spring and carry water back up the hill in buckets and jugs. That\nwas hard to do, especially when it snowed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For 48 years,\nLaura Morrison and her husband, Roger, have also relied on a spring to provide\nthem with water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe spring\nhas supplied us well throughout the decades,\u201d Morrison said. \u201cHowever, more\npeople have moved into the community over the years and also draw from the\nspring, and we\u2019ve also noticed that the water has become murkier when it rains\nand isn\u2019t as good to drink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhenever the\nelectricity goes out, so does the pump from the holding tank in our basement.\nWe have to go to the spring or to a neighbor on the water system, and fill up\ncans and buckets to use at our house. As we\u2019ve gotten older, it\u2019s become harder\nfor us to deal with that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In late 2015, the Morrisons approached WCSA about the possibility of bringing water to the Rattle Creek Road community. Laura oversaw the process of getting paperwork to all of her neighbors who were also interested in being connected and returned those to WCSA, who then embarked on the long process of bacteriological testing of the water supplies for those residences, soliciting user agreements for a potential waterline extension project to serve those homes, and applying for funding to support the project costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2018, WCSA was awarded $310,000 in funding from the Virginia Department of Health and the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. The funding was designated by WCSA for the Rattle Creek Waterline Extension Project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were excited to receive this grant,\u201d says Robbie Cornett,\ngeneral manager for WCSA. \u201cIt is always our goal to provide exceptional water\nand wastewater service at a reasonable cost to our existing customers, as well\nas expand our water distribution and wastewater collection systems to better\nserve the needs of the residents in our community. These funds enabled WCSA to\ncomplete the necessary improvements needed to provide our Rattle Creek\nneighbors with access to a reliable source of clean drinking water.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In January 2019, WCSA was able to advertise the Rattle Creek Road Waterline Extension Project and begin construction. The project consisted of approximately 6,000 linear feet of 8-inch and 2-inch waterline and all related appurtenances. Connections were made to 12 single-family residential homes, with the potential to serve two additional homes. Connections were also made for a church and three additional homes that are currently being renovated by their owners. The project was completed on August 1, and the residents of this community are now served by a safe and consistent drinking water supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWater service through WCSA has been an asset in several\nways,\u201d Bailey says. \u201cI\u2019m enjoying the water pressure. I can take a nice shower\nand it doesn\u2019t take as long for the washing machine to fill up. I\u2019m looking\nforward to no longer having to worry about the water freezing in winter, and\nI\u2019m about the luxury of still having water whenever the power goes out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so good to have water now,\u201d Morrison says. \u201cIt\u2019s so\nmuch more convenient and we have a lot more water pressure now. There were\nnumerous parties involved in bringing water to our community, and I would like\nto thank everyone who had a part in it. We really appreciate it!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Following the completion of the Rattle Creek Waterline Extension Project earlier this year, several residences in the Rattle Creek Road community were connected to WCSA\u2019s water service, providing them with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"xn-wppe-expiration":[],"xn-wppe-expiration-action":[],"xn-wppe-expiration-prefix":[],"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n