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Dan Kegley/Monday was “a water day for me,” Congressman Rick Boucher told a gathering at the dedication of Marion’s Water Treatment Plant. He left that event to announce federal funding for a water treatment center in Independence serving central Grayson County and Sparta, N.C.

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Meeting Marion’s water needs

By DAN KEGLEY/Staff

Marion officials unveiled a renovated water treatment plant Monday in a dedication keynoted by Congressman Rick Boucher, D-9th.
Months of work upgraded and replaced processes and equipment at the facility, from the intake in the Middle Fork of the Holston River to purification systems in the 41-year-old building.
The plant’s last update was in 1985.
Boucher said the latest work was funded by a low-interest loan of $1.86 million from the Environmental Protection Agency, funneled through the Virginia Department of Health’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. The project was also supported by a $188,960 grant from the Southwest Virginia Water and Wastewater Fund, a Virginia Tobacco Commission grant of $144,612, and a $100,000 grant from the Mount Rogers Planning District Commission.
Town officials project the upgrades will meet water customers’ needs for 20 years and will immediately serve 4,400 homes and businesses.
“We’re pleased to have a state-of-the-art water treatment facility again,” said Marion Mayor David Helms.
Marion Town Manager John Clark said the upgrade is “the second or third largest dollar project I ever worked on,” and that with the number of involved agencies, “this could have been a very cumbersome and difficult project.” He credited the state health department, the tobacco commission, planning district commission, engineers from The Lane Group, Frizzell Construction that performed the work, and the town’s employees, mayor and council members for the smoothness of the job.