After a flurry of social media posts and statewide media coverage last week, the city of Marion is reporting that issues with its water system are being repaired. A faulty well pump which caused water pressure issues and outages had been replaced last week, said the city.
Some local media reported last week that Marion had not submitted a completed grant application to Alabama’s Department of Environmental Management. This quote sparked a number of social media posts questioning the city’s vote late last year on a funding proposal by ADEM to improve the city’s water system. City officials had touted the plan as providing as much as $6 million toward improvements to the city’s system.
According to ADEM’s website, alabamawaterprojects. com, Marion has been approved for $2,130,000.00 in improvements under Phase 1 of a DWSRF Critical Needs Water Infrastructure Improvements Project. That includes $1,380,000.00 in funding from state and federal sources. The city will be obligated to $750,000.00 in matching funds for Phase 1 of the project, although it is likely that a significant portion of the match will be made up of in-kind contributions like labor.
An official with ADEM confirmed this week that Marion’s Phase 1 application had been approved, and explained that, while the project application may have been approved, the application could still have been considered “incomplete” by ADEM’s standards while certain documents or other requirements remained outstanding. As of press time on Wednesday, ADEM said, the city is further along in that process, and the “incomplete” status of the application would not have impacted the progress of the water improvement project at this stage.
Marion is among many other cities across the state and nation dealing with outdated water infrastructure, and upgrading these failing systems is a process that will take a long time, the ADEM official noted.
In addition, ADEM clarified its authority as regards local water systems and when a “boil water” notice should be issued. Because that is a local matter, the decision is also local, meaning it is not within ADEM’s authority to issue a boil water notice, that decision must be made by the local authority— in this case, the city of Marion.
When the issues with water quality stem from iron particulate causing discoloration and other issues, it is important to note that boiling will not remove these issues.
