Pittsylvania County Public Works is completing a variety of projects that will improve our existing pump stations and infrastructure and extend water service to areas that don’t have access to clean well water.

These water and sewer improvement projects can generally be broken up into two categories:

• Projects funded through a $2.4 million grant from the EDA (and a $600,000 match from Pittsylvania County) that was announced in August of 2022. These include pump station improvements and a few other services and improvements to existing infrastructure.

Projects that are funded through the County’s share of ARPA funds. This includes a waterline extension along Horseshoe Road, which has numerous residents that have had problems with contaminants in their well water. 

Horseshoe Road Extension

With the help of funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, ARPA, residents of Horseshoe Road in the Bachelor’s Hall-Brosville area of Pittsylvania County are finally able to connect to public water after relying on private wells with low yields and poor water quality for decades. Since January 2023, contractors have been installing domestic water infrastructure to reach approximately 60 residences, with the first of these homes connected in April 2023.
In September 2023, the County’s Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the allocation of additional ARPA funds to cover construction costs for approximately 4.5 miles of water line to connect the residents of Horseshoe Road to public water. The County’s Public Works Department implemented a reduced one-time connection fee of $2,500 ($2,750 if financed) to allow customers to quickly begin benefiting from this new service once construction is complete. After construction, the new project connection fee of $7,500 would apply.
The Horseshoe Road expansion project is scheduled for completion in August 2023.

EDA Grant Projects

The Economic Development Authority, which is part of the United States Department of Commerce, awarded Pittsylvania County a $2.4 million grant in August of 2022 to complete a variety of water and sewer infrastructure projects. These funds are part of the EDA's American Rescue Plan Economic Adjustment Assistance program. The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors agreed in August of 2021 to provide a contribution of up to $600,000 for these projects.

Several of the county's business parks will be directly impacted by the infrastructure upgrades. Some current tenants are planning expansions and the sites’ marketability to new tenants will be improved.

The proposed timeline for the completion of these projects extends about 1.5 years. The goal is to complete the project design phase in mid-2023 and have the project construction vendor(s) selected in the fall of 2023. The County issued a request for proposals (RFP) for professional engineering design services for the project in November of 2022. Project completion is expected in mid-2024.

You can view the full engineering report regarding these projects that was submitted as part of the EDA grant application.

Pump Stations

The vast majority of the EDA-funded grant is for improvements to existing sewer pump stations and water booster stations.

Then under the Pittsylvania County Service Authority, Pittsylvania County Public Works conducted a study in 2019 to evaluate all of the existing water and sewer pump stations, ranking them hierarchically in terms of their need for repairs and improvements. The five pump stations that will be improved, which were identified through this study, that will be improved include:

• Highway 41 Water Booster Station (Installed in 1982)
• Vista Point Sewer Pump Station (installed in 1983)
• Hodnett’s Mill Sewer Pump Station (Installed 1990)
• Blairs Sewer Pump Station (Installed in 2000)
• Ragsdale Sewer Pump Station (Installed in 2003)

This study also recommended that the Brockway Pump Station, which was first installed in 1978, be completely replaced due to age, deterioration, and poor reliability of service. As part of this project, the Brockway Pump Station will be taken out of service and replaced with gravity sewer.

The replacement of the Brockway Pump Station with a gravity sewer will directly impact the Cane Creek Center and Ringgold East Industrial Parks by improving service to manufacturers and enhancing the sites’ marketability to companies interested in locating there.

Additional Improvements

In addition to the pump station projects, this grant will allow Pittsylvania County to improve some of the other water and sewer infrastructure. These projects include:

• Servicing pumps around Chatham Middle School and Tightsqueeze
• Completing telemetry of a water well and water booster pump station
• Installing backup generators at several locations to improve resiliency and continuation of service during power outages
• Putting in site fencing and security at all water stations

County ARPA Projects

Pittsylvania County allocated approximately $1.838 million of the County’s funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to two water projects - Horseshoe Road and Robin Court. Both of these projects are intended to provide public water to areas that have had issues with contaminated well water.

However, the costs for the Horseshoe Road project came out significantly higher than anticipated. Pittsylvania County put out an Invitation for Bid (IFB) for the project, and the lowest bid came in at just over $2 million. The Board of Supervisors approved the low-bid contract for the Horseshoe Road extension project, which took up all the ARPA money that we had allocated for that project and the Robin Court project.

The Board decided to reallocate all the ARPA funds that were initially for the two projects into the Horseshoe road project and directed staff to pursue additional funding opportunities (including VDH grants) to fund the planned Robin Court expansion project. The Board chose this path instead of pulling reserve funding to cover the costs of both or reducing the scope of the Horseshoe Road project. 

Robin Court

The water system in Robin Court is a well system that was built in the early 1970s and taken over by the Pittsylvania County Service Authority (now part of Pittsylvania County Public Works) in the 1980s. The Virginia Department of Health issued a Consent Order requiring Pittsylvania County to complete repairs to this system, which is to the northeast of Chatham and serves approximately 17 residents.

With an estimated price tag of $965,382, the design and engineering work for this project is mostly complete. Work is expected to begin in the fall of 2022.

Horseshoe Road

Another water-related project from Pittsylvania County Public Works is an extension down Horseshoe Road, which would add an estimated 28 new customers. Citizens on this road, most of whom have had difficulties with contaminants in their well water, first asked for an extension in 2017.

With the engineering and design work completed, the construction for this project was put out for bid in mid-August. This project has an estimated price tag of $$873,000.