Has the grant made a difference in the quality of services or effectiveness?

Not yet. This is part of a long-term, multi-dimensional project with many future benefits. It will be 2.5 years before full benefits will begin to be realized.

The Town of West Union, however, has been barely breaking even financially for some time now. There has been no money to replace our aging infrastructure in the Town or in the Water Service provided to the County of Doddridge.

The Alliance Grant is part of a bold investment in our future. It enables us to service a larger area with the same facilities, equipment, and staff. Our profit margin has been kept small as water and sewer have been our investment in the growth of the county. With the same conservative approach to water and sewer rates, we will still see a larger margin of profit, which will be reinvested in the existing, aging portions of the service we provide. In two years, we should be able to choose another outlying portion of our service area, such as either Central Station or Smithburg.

Long-term, the grant will enabled us to better maintain, update, and upgrade our entire service area due to working smarter, greener, and with less human error.

If so in what ways?

Remote reading of meters saves employee man-hours, gasoline and vehicle usage. Human error in reading and writing and data entry is eliminated, saving more man-hours and vehicle usage in the standard re-reads. Customer satisfaction and confidence is increased as billing is more accurate.

The remote sensors also have a feature where they alert service when there is a leak. This saves loss of treated (expensively, I might add) water. At the present time, our major indication that a customer has a leak, is a high reading – which is only done monthly.

If not what obstacles limited your work?

We've had no obstacles that limited or are expected to limit the work proposed. Working with government grants and public utilities is necessarily time-consuming and paperwork intensive. For a massive project like this, that is to be expected, and it is very worthwhile.

What impact did the grant have on the population served?

Amazingly, there is already an impact on the population. The Greenwood area looks revitalized already. The Greenwood Motel has already reopened. Several upscale homes are under construction in this area – all on the promise of receiving city water service this year.

Actual impact on the Greenwood population will be incalculable as they have not had potable water available through their wells for a few years now due to contamination of the water table. All drinking water and most cooking water has been bought. Water must be bought to mix baby formula, etc. Many there have been taking their laundry to nearby towns, as the residual mineral content in their well-water leaves the clothing dingy. The water available to them has been a serious health and safety issue.

During the course of the project, did anything happen that was different from what you expected?

Yes. A trusted supplier estimated a price two and a half times more than two others randomly contacted on the hand-held unit.

The number of bids submitted for the overall project by construction firms specializing in this area was over double what we expected and have received in the past.

A question arose about the batteries involved in the remote meters. After many calls and much research, we learned that the batteries have a 20 year warrantee; for 1-years, they would be replaced free of charge, for the next 10 there would be pro-rating.

How will the lessons you learned change your future thinking, performance or services?

We’ve learned that we will not be able to stay current or be able to maintain our infrastructure with the status quo in the current financial environmental market without leaping into the future with both feet.

We’ve learned that our community has the cohesion and the talent to support the learning curve needed for massive projects.

Financial Report

Budget expenses	Actual expenses	Difference
Bid Requests and Advertising were piggy-backed onto and costs absorbed by the larger project.
Meters $19,250.00	$0.00	19,250.00
Hand Held Unit $4,500.00	None so far - $0.00	$4,500.00
Compatible Billing software	None so far - $0.00	$700.00
$24,450.00	$0.00	$24,450.00

Tell us a how this project addressed the problem identified by your organization or group and how the technology was implemented to resolve the problem in a news release format. (This will actually be sent to local, regional, and state media). Limited to two or three paragraphs.

“Working Smart in West Union”

The Town of West Union received and opened construction bids for the Waterline Extension Project to Duckworth and Greenwood, in Doddridge County, WV on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009. This area has been distressed, with a contaminated water table affecting many of the private wells.

The low bid fell within the budgeted construction allowance and the tabulations have been sent to the Public Service Commission for review and recording. The Greenwood Water Project has been approved by the WV Public Service Commission (PSC) and is being financed by a State of West Virginia grant.

An exciting innovation, radio read water meters, partially funded by a grant from the Alliance of Champion Communities, will be included as a pilot project for the Town of West Union Water and Sewer Board.

Groundbreaking is scheduled for late March 2009 and completion of the project is scheduled for June 2009.

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to this project. Those who attended the vital meetings, The Town of West Union, the Alliance of Champion Communities, Doddridge County Commission and Region VI Planning and Development. The greatest thanks go to Trey Horner, of Hornor Brothers Engineers who has been our Project Engineer, steering us every step of the way.

Congratulations Duckworth and Greenwood!