Florida Sens. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio are urging the Army Corps of Engineers to modernize Putnam County’s water supply system after the county administrator requested the federal help nearly a year ago.
In a letter to the Army Corps, Putnam County's acting County Administrator M. Stacie Poppell called the its outdated public water supply infrastructure “a matter of serious concern.”
Although the state told the county to provide drinking water to a new community in an unincorporated area, the system closest to it was dilapidated and wouldn’t do the job, the letter said.
It also said because of a tight budget, the county can’t properly upgrade the central water supply infrastructure to get new households safe drinking water, and these issues are detrimental to the local economy, preventing growth in an area with has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state.
Last week Rubio wrote to the Army’s Civil Works Department urging them to tackle the project along with a slew of others needed in the state.
Nelson sent a similar letter to Jacksonville’s Army Corps district office on Monday that focused on Putnam County’s issue.
Nelson and Poppell both point out in their letters the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 authorized the Army Corps of Engineers to provide assistance for water supply projects in the Putnam area of Florida.
Photo used under Creative Commons.
Lindsey Kilbride can be reached at lkilbride@wjct.org, 904-358-6359 or on Twitter at@lindskilbride.
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