GOLDSTON — Goldston Mayor Tim Cunnup agrees — it’s always nice to get state funds for major town improvements.
The town, as well as the Goldston-Gulf Sanitary District, was recently awarded more than $2 million total as part of a large number of grants from the State of North Carolina for infrastructure projects. Gov. Roy Cooper announced the grants — $127 million in loans and contributions for 96 projects — last week in a press release.
“Clean water is critical for our health and our economy,” Cooper said in the release. “These funds will help communities improve their water and sewer systems to ensure clean drinking water, support good jobs and be better able to withstand future storms.”
The majority of Goldston’s grants come in the form of a $1,999,550 Community Development Block Grant for Infrastructure, specifically for Phase II of the town’s sewer system improvements. Cunnup told the News + Record that the town has been working on this particular grant application for three years and that the money will go toward connecting 30 more homes “that are in desperate need of infrastructure” to the town’s wastewater system.
“The majority of them have failing septic systems, so we’re going to be able to hook those people up,” he said. “I was really happy and excited to finally get the OK that that was going to come through. We’ll be able to provide sewer for houses that really had some bad septic issues.”
The homes are located off of Pinecrest Drive just outside of Goldston.
The Goldston-Gulf Sanitary District and the Town of Goldston each received $50,000 which Eddie Staley, an engineer with WithersRavenel, said will be used to study capability and future use of the town’s water and sewer systems.
“That is to look at the long-term regionalization of those systems,” Staley said. “(It) is to look at opportunities to create resiliencies in the system, to work together with other utilities, to create better value for the citizens.”
As Chatham County as a whole continues to develop, Staley said, Goldston could potentially be in a position to offer water service to individuals too far from Siler City or Pittsboro, or provide backup water to surrounding areas in case of a drought or a line break.
“Having that regionalization is really important,” he said. “If you have a major water line break, that can disrupt service for quite some time. That’s very impactful.”
Cunnup added that the study will be good to help the town project “where our systems are going to be in the future and the need and the volume” for water and wastewater.
“The study itself should be very helpful, not only (for) us but (for) the county and everybody,” he said.