For Immediate Release
Dec. 6, 2001
Contact: Terry Sebastian or Rusty Cheuvront (502) 564-2611 http://gov.state.ky.us/communications.htm

Gov. Patton announces $70 Million in Water Infrastructure Projects


FRANKFORT, Ky. – Governor Paul Patton, joined by bill sponsor Sen. Dan Kelly, R-Springfield, today announced $70 million in water infrastructure projects aimed at providing more than 695,000 households statewide with improved water systems.

“In my first year as Governor, I created the Water Resource Development Commission to analyze and plan the best way to prepare Kentucky for the new millennium and to provide water to every Kentucky household,” Patton said. “Today’s announcement takes us to another level because I believe it is a necessity of modern life and a basic right of every American in the 21st century to have an adequate and sanitary water system.”

Governor Patton signed legislation, sponsored by Sen. Kelly during the 2000 session, that created regional water management planning councils charged with establishing a statewide database of proposed water projects from each area of the state. In addition, the funding for today’s announced projects was included in the current biennial budget.

The Kentucky Infrastructure Authority approved some $70 million statewide for the current 177 water projects. This funding, combined with federal and local matching funds, will result in a total investment of $240 million in state water infrastructure.  

“These projects are a result of one of the best examples of bipartisan cooperation in Kentucky in a very long time,” Patton said. “Working closely with Sen. Dan Kelly, we structured a new and much more realistic process for planning and developing Kentucky’s water infrastructure and a system to deliver water to households, schools and industries across our Commonwealth.”

Additionally, Patton said he would be working closely with the 2002 Legislature to invest some $40 million to $50 million of Coal Severance funds in water projects to assure that the nearly 270,000 unserved households in Kentucky will have access to safe drinking water by 2020.

 “These funds leveraged with other funding sources, similar to the 2020 Program involving tobacco funds, will allow us to generate another $156 million in water infrastructure development in our coal regions of the Commonwealth,” Patton said.

“For the first time in history, we have conducted a comprehensive needs analysis for each Kentucky county and have strategically matched these needs with the appropriate funding source. Today’s announcement moves us closer to our 20-year goal of safe drinking water in every Kentucky home and business,” he said.

The 177 projects announced today include:

County

# of projects

# of households

Project total

Adair

2

2,876

$5,065,400

Ballard

1

612

$634,000

Barren

4

19,157

$1,006,000

Bath

2

4,014

$2,310,355

Boone

1

75

$257,600

Bourbon

2

345

$2,950,200

Boyd

1

7,500

$2,362,626

Boyle

1

6,700

$1500

Bracken

3

2,709

$3,060,000

Breckinridge

1

10,975

$8,500,000

Bullitt

6

176

$882,500

Butler

1

4,800

$122,000

Caldwell

2

3,975

$8,435,723

Calloway

3

1,500

$1,654,600

Carroll

2

538

$2,226,000

Carter

3

21,192

$8,130,000

Casey

1

336

$1,467,400

Christian

2

3,179

$2,650,000

Clark

2

2,162

$1,465,183

Clay

1

1,600

$8,000,000

Clinton

1

44

$496,600

Crittenden

1

1,817

$400,000

Cumberland

1

900

$4,161,000

Daviess

3

4,360

$3,825,000

Edmonson

2

4,000

$112,314

Fayette

1

174,976

$545,000

Fleming

2

8,187

$19,128,000

Floyd

2

59

$394,102

Franklin

3

46

$526,889

Fulton

1

1,852

$900,523

Gallatin

1

6

$16,400

Garrard

2

1,840

$729,300

Grant

2

8,328

$1,634,200

Graves

1

1,998

$1,117,868

Grayson

2

930

$3,364,000

Green

1

35

$1,432,000

Greenup

1

1,360

$529,500

Hancock

1

2,248

$7,000,000

Hardin

2

51,048

$2,650,000

Harlan

3

2,739

$3,727,275

Harrison

1

876

$550,000

Hart

2

1,008

$749,365

Henderson

2

36,372

$700,000

Henry

1

12,144

$3,450,000

Hopkins

1

15,031

$1,041,000

Jackson

1

5,800

$4,000,000

Jefferson

1

40

$299,200

Jessamine

2

12,341

$4,026,000

Johnson

1

480

$1,297,149

Kenton

1

47

$459,360

Knox

3

20

$95,000

Larue

1

20,292

$2,500,000

Laurel

3

6,044

$2,118,364

Lawrence

2