Abraham announces $3.2M for Caldwell water system

WASHINGTON — Congressman Ralph Abraham, M.D., R-Alto, announced Friday in a news release that the Vixen Water System in Caldwell Parish will receive $3.2 million in assistance from the United States Department of Agriculture for major upgrades to the system.

The funds come in two forms: a $2.2 million grant and a $1 million loan to be paid back over 40 years at a 2.125 percent interest rate. The system also received an additional $30,000 USDA Search Grant to further assist with the project.

The Vixen Water System serves nearly 300 rural customers and has been under an administrative order from the Department of Health and Hospitals due to ongoing problems with the system. It averages 40 percent to 50 percent water loss due to inaccurate meters and extensive flushing to reduce disinfection byproduct levels.

The project will alleviate the health and sanitary problems by providing safe, dependable, potable drinking water to the customers of Vixen Water System by constructing a new water well with two 45,000 gallon ground storage tanks and installing a biological filter, including radio read meters and approximately 56,000 linear feet of 6-inch water main to connect the east and west portions of the system.

"The Vixen Water System greatly needs these USDA funds so that it can better deliver the quality of water the customers deserve. I appreciate Sec. Sonny Perdue and the USDA for awarding these funds that will help the people of Caldwell Parish," Abraham said.

Large grants like the one the Vixen Water System is receiving are increasingly rare, and most small towns only have access to loans or lesser grants, which is problematic given the number of water and other infrastructure needs facing rural communities throughout rural Louisiana. Abraham has introduced a bill, the Revitalize Rural America Act, that aims to fix this problem.

Abraham's bill would take $2.1 billion in Department of Transportation money currently set aside for urban wish-list projects, like bike paths and botanical gardens, and redirect it into a grant program that specifically goes toward water, road and broadband Internet projects in rural America.

"No American should worry about the quality of their water while the government is building gardens in cities. Flowers are nice, but clean water is necessary. My bill gives a much-needed boost to funds available to rural America so that our local municipalities can address their infrastructure needs that have mostly been ignored by Washington," Abraham said.