State grant will cover replacement of aging water filter media, council told

An official from the Georgia Rural Center told the City of McCassel council the center had secured funding to replace the town's aging water filtration media and that the Rural Development Council and the commissioner agreed to cover the cost as a grant with no required local match.

"It is a grant, but there is no match," the agency official said, explaining the filter media is at end of life and replacing it (including disposal of the sand media) would have cost the town approximately $67,000. The official said the Rural Development Council and the commissioner agreed to pay for the replacement and disposal.

Council members thanked staff who helped prepare the grant materials; the presiding official noted the replacement will reduce the need for repeated backwashing, conserve treated water and improve system metrics used in future permit applications. The meeting record included technical comments that older filters require more frequent backwashing and that replacing media will reduce water loss and make the system’s numbers look "a lot better" when applying for improvements.

The council indicated staff will call the contractor this week to schedule the work once paperwork is complete. The grant was described in the meeting as fully covering replacement; the council did not record any required local matching funds in the discussion.