Scottville to receive water quality grant

SCOTTVILLE — Scottville may be a step closer to solving the mystery of where some of its water has been going the last several years. On Monday, the city commission approved receiving a Strategic Water Quality Initiatives Grant from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

“This program will pay for 90% of Asset Management Plans, Stormwater Management Plans, and other services for Michigan Communities,” City Manager Amy Williams said. “The DEQ has begun requiring municipalities to conduct Asset Management Plans to stay in state compliance and this grant program allows us to get that Asset Management Plan completed at no more than 10% of the cost using the grant program.  The program will allow us to also become GIS capable which will give us online mapping of our water and sewer systems.  The estimated total cost for all these services is $279,333 of which we would only be responsible for 10% or $27,933 which is a substantial savings for us.”

Williams said one of the hopes of the program will be to find out why the city cannot account for a large quantity of water. Through the years it has made attempts to find the missing water but hasn’t been able to locate it.