With the assistance of WLC Engineering and Surveying, the Salt Creek Joint Powers Board (SCJPB) was awarded a $500,000 Mineral Royalty Grant to replace approximately 5,500 feet of failing waterline. WLC served as a grants writer and submitted the grant to the State Loan & Investments Board that will fund 65% of project replacing the approximately 100-year-old waterline. In addition, WLC wrote an emergency Mineral Royalty Grant application for the SCJPB to fund 100% of the design the project. The Salt Creek Joint Powers Board is a joint powers board comprised of the Towns of Edgerton and Midwest.

Grant Requirements

Mineral Royalty Grants provide a portion of funding to cities, towns, counties and special districts for the construction of projects. These include projects necessary for the health, safety and general welfare of residents. This funding source can provide a critical opportunity to entities facing emergency situations, similar to the SCJPB. These grants are reviewed and awarded twice each year. The grant application requires a description of the project, multiple form completions, budgets, letters and other support documents. WLC has served as a grants writer and administered more than 22 of these grants in the previous 10 years.

Waterline Breaks

This waterline provides the only water supply to the Towns of Edgerton and Midwest. Within three days in May 2017, the waterline ruptured three times at three separate locations. Prior to that, this section of waterline experienced 10 ruptures in the previous five years. As such, it operates at high pressures and is not cathodically protected. Continued disruption of the area’s only source of water represents a direct and immediate danger to the community’s houses and the high level of flammable materials, namely oil and natural gas, in the area.

Waterline Replacement

The replacement of this section of waterline is a permanent solution. The pipe will be plastic-wrapped and cathodically protected. Cathodic protection is a technique used to control the corrosion of a metal surface by making it the cathode of an electrochemical cell. This is a tried and true method of protection. It connects the metal to be protected to a more easily corroded “sacrificial metal” to act as the anode.

The Central Wyoming Regional Water System’s Water Treatment Plant in Casper, Wyoming is the sole water source for the Edgerton and Midwest. Water is transported to Edgerton and Midwest via a single, 35-mile long pipeline. Most of the water line, approximately 22 miles, was installed in the 1990’s and is in good condition. When the 22 miles of pipeline was replaced, the funding agencies determined that 13 miles of the line did not warrant replacement as the line was thought to be in good condition and no breaks had developed. Now, over 25 years later, this section of line is experiencing significant corrosion and breaks due to poor soil conditions identified through an independent engineering study commissioned by the Central Wyoming Regional Water Supply Joint Powers Board.