Hessmer receives $816K grant to rehab sewer system

Hessmer has been awarded a Community Development Block Grant of $816,600 to rehabilitate the municipality’s sewer system. The Village Council received the good news at its meeting on Jan. 6.

“We have been working on getting this grant for about 18 months,” Mayor Travis Franks said. “I have to thank Town Engineer Brendon Gaspard and Pan American Engineers for all the hard work done to apply for this grant.”

The project will include using smoke testing and closed-circuit television inspections to locate areas of the pipeline in need of repair.

The grant will then pay a contractor to repair those leaks that are allowing rainwater to infiltrate the sewer system.

“This project will help reduce water infiltration into the sewer system, allowing us to increase the capacity and reliability of our sewer service and reduce treatment costs in electricity and chemicals by eliminating rainwater that we have to treat along with the wastewater.”

PAYING ADMIN COSTS

To earn extra points in the grant application process, the Village Council had agreed the municipality would pay the administrative costs of $42,900. That cost is in addition to the $816,600 grant.

Franks and a representative from Pan American Engineers attended a CDBG workshop in Baton Rouge on Tuesday (Jan. 28).

He said he expects to award the contract in July, with the smoke testing and camera inspections to be done soon after. If everything goes well, the construction phase of the project could begin in October.