Rayville to supply cemetery with water

The town of Rayville is moving ahead with a number of projects Mayor Harry Lewis feels will help improve the quality of living in the town.

“We have several things we’ve been working on that will help people,” Lewis said.

Most recently, the town accepted a bid of $412,000 from Womack and Sons for a construction project to supply water to the new Northeast Louisiana Veteran’s Cemetery on US 425.

“We were expecting to spend about $600,000 on that so when we got a low bid of $412,000 we were happy with that,” Lewis said. “Because of that we might be able to look at adding a lift station.”

The federal government will pay for the construction costs, he added.

The construction of the new water lines would allow residents between Rayville and the cemetery to eventually tie into town water lines.

“That means we’re able to look at developing commercial property along the highway south of town,” Lewis noted.

Construction is expected to be complete by October.

The council is also obtained a $150,000 grant from FEMA which will be used to install generators at the town water plant and Well #5.

“That will allow us to continue to operate the water system in the event of a power outage,” Lewis said.

He added the issue of what the town would do during a prolonged power outage had been weighing on his for some time.

“Our water tower only holds 400,000 gallons,” Lewis explained. “If we lost power and it stayed off  for more than a day, we would run out of water.”

The new generators will mean that is no longer a possibility.

The town has also obtained a grant of $187,000 from the Delta Regional Authority to refubish and enhance Well #2.

“We can currently pump about 2,500 gallons per minute now,” Lewis said. “We’re looking at getting that up to about 3,5000.”

The town is also working to obtain about $2.5 million in capital outlay funding from the state to expand the town’s water and sewerage system along US 80 to the Franklin Farms Megasite.

“We’re also working on the park on Louisa Street, every time the weather clears up enough for people to get some work done,” he added.