$1 million is second of three grant allocations

A million dollars in funding for the Yadkin Valley Sewer Authority won approval from the North Carolina Rural Center Wednesday.

State Rep. Jim Harrell III announced Thursday that the board of the Rural Center approved the $1 million grant which is the second phase of funding for the regional sewer project.

The rural center has approved $2 million within the last two years for the effort that will build improvements to the sewer treatment in Elkin and serve the needs of Elkin, Jonesville and Ronda.

The three towns cooperated over the last four years to create the regional sewer authority to consolidate existing plants.

He said this years appropriation brings the financing to about half of what state officials initially indicated they could apply to the project.

"Water and sewer services are crucial to the economic development of a town as well as a region," Harrell said Thursday night.

"Regionalism is a wise and cost effective measure," he said. "You can maximize your resources. You have only one office instead of three small ones, one maintenance department instead of three. Elkin, Jonesville and Ronda have done a good job of that and maximizing resources."

The rural center also approved $500,000 for water and sewer projects in Dobson and $40,000 for a project that will conduct a water loss analysis and develop a corrective action plan.