Emerson arrives bearing a gift for East Butler Sewer District

By Linda Redeffer

Daily American Repulbic

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, presented a mock check for $3,523,000 to the East Butler County Sewer District at the site of the district's treatment building at Routes B and AA.

The presentation was only one of five Emerson made while touring the district on Tuesday.

The funds from the Department of Agriculture's rural development division will be used to build a sewer system that will benefit more than 450 households. Total financing includes a rural development loan of $2,114,000, a rural development grant of $1,409,000, a grant from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources of $1 million, and a state Community Development Block Grant of $500,000.

The East Butler County Sewer District was formed Sept. 2, 1998, and proceeded to issue general revenue bonds to get funding to design and build the sewer system. With the sewer system, the district plans to meet the needs of providing a safe and sanitary system in an area of approximately 4,000 acres located northeast of Poplar Bluff. The central wastewater system will eliminate hundreds of substandard septic tanks and stop the contamination of ground water.

Construction of the vacuum system is expected to begin in June and is estimated to take a year to finish.

"A lot of hard work by many people got us to where we are today," said Lyndal Murdock, president of the Sewer District Board.

Added Greg Branum, State Director for USDA-RD, "This is a great partnership effort when everyone works together for a common goal of meeting the needs for an environmentally safe disposal system. I want to commend the East Butler County Sewer District Board and everyone involved in funding this project." "People take this for granted," Emerson said. "They don't understand how hard people work to make life a lot better. The board and community need to be congratulated." Schultz Engineering Services designed the system and will provide construction oversight as project engineer. He explained that the vacuum collection system which will be used in this district has been used in Europe and some parts of the United States for half a century.

"It has numerous advantages for areas such as ours," he said, "including reduced construction costs and better resistance to damage from earthquakes." Robertson, Inc. of Poplar Bluff will be the contractor installing the new system.

Earlier in the day Emerson presented USDA-RD checks to the Dexter Senior Center to replace the roof, to the Puxico City Hall to do a feasibility study to make up for the lost jobs when the clothing factory closed, to the Bill Emerson Visitors' Center at the Lake Wappapello Dam, and she was present at a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Qulin Sewer Plant.

She also attended a flood prevention press conference in Cape Girardeau in the morning, and had lunch with the senior citizens at their center in Jackson.