DeKalb Utility District officials have announced that another grant has been secured in the quest to fund the DUD’s own water treatment plant.
The Appalachian Regional Commission grant award, in the amount of $500,000, will help fund the raw water intake project that the district hopes to construct on Center Hill Lake.
The Upper Cumberland Development District wrote the grant for the DUD, and the funds will be administered by Rural Development.
The entire project consists of the construction of a raw water intake, raw water transmission line, water treatment plant and finished water lines for the district.
The plan is for the building housing the intake pumps to be located near Holmes Creek.
The DUD board adopted a bond resolution for the authorization and issuance of not more than $9.25 million in bonds for the proposed water treatment plant in May.
The utility had already secured a $5 million loan and a $1.25 million grant to fund construction, and land has already been purchased for the plant.
The loan is set at 2.75 percent interest for 40 years.
The remainder of the $10.5 million plant is to be funded through the bond issue.
Many local residents oppose the plant, however.
A petition drive by an organization called Citizens Against the DUD has resulted in enough signatures to ask state officials for a review of the need for the new plant in hope that the sale of bonds will be blocked  by the state.
The DUD serves slightly more than 5,000 customers in DeKalb and surrounding counties.