Jasper planning to add backup water supply with $1.2 million matching grant

The City of Jasper was recently awarded a $1.2 million dollar matching grant through the U.S. Department of Commerce to support plans to create a backup water supply for the city.

The city’s main source of water is the Patoka River. With previous droughts and other issues like increasing concentrations of pollutants during seasonal changes in the river affecting that water supply, the city plans on connecting to the Patoka Regional Water and Sewer District.

A new 16-inch water main will be installed near County Road 500 North on Portersville Road. The water main will run more than a mile to the intersection with County Road 400, where it will split into 12-inch supply lines to the city.

According to Jasper Utilities Manager Bud Hauersperger, the connection won’t necessarily allow the city to avoid water conservation mandates if the main water supply to the city is adversely affected, but it will ease those mandates.

In 2012, the City of Jasper had to take emergency action to slow water consumption when the Patoka River dropped well below its seasonal norm due to a drought. Though a water flow increase was requested from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, any increase in flow at the dam takes about three days to reach Jasper.

“IDEM (Indiana Department of Environmental Management) is also strongly recommending all cities have a backup water source,” Hauersperger added.

An agreement on how much water the City of Jasper can expect to be supplied by the Patoka Regional Water and Sewer District is still being completed. Hauersperger pointed out the district is concerned about being able to supply all their customers and wants to ensure the city’s demand won’t detract from that. Some thoughts include the city drawing the majority of the emergency water from the district at times when demand from its other customers drops — say overnight.

With the award from the Department of Commerce, the city has 30 months to complete the project. Hauersperger said they expect to begin engineering on the project in the next month. He estimated work on the main could begin sometime early next year. The city is matching the grant with at least $1.2 million.