Clean water, updated infrastructure reach communities across mid-Atlantic, enabled by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers funding mechanisms
A grassroots initiative of area residents paid for and conducted the tests, which gave full shape to the problem — while cellphone videos circulated showing residents igniting the gases coming from a kitchen faucet. That proof is what set the machinery of federal cost-sharing in motion, and construction on this life-changing infrastructure is now entering its final phase.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Baltimore District, has carried out a reimbursement effort with the Central Hampshire Public Service District to bring safe, reliable drinking water to residents and businesses along U.S. 220 through the Southwestern Hampshire County Water Extension Project, running from the border of Hampshire and Hardy counties north to the community of Rada.
The project calls for approximately 71,000 linear feet of polyvinyl chloride waterline, along with a 50-gallon-per-minute booster station. Contractors will also build a 50,000-gallon storage tank under a separate contract. In total, the extension will serve roughly 120 Equivalent Dwelling Units (water infrastructure terminology for single-family homes), replacing the wells and cisterns that have posed a quiet but persistent risk to public health.
Section 571 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1999, which created the Northern West Virginia Environmental Infrastructure and Resource Protection and Development Program, established the cost-sharing authority employed here. The non-federal sponsor of these projects pays for design and construction activities associated with the proposed environmental infrastructure and then submits monthly invoices to USACE for reimbursement. “Environmental infrastructure” broadly means water and wastewater systems.
“I maintain consistent contact with the non-federal sponsor, their architectural and engineering firm, and in many cases a region of the Appalachian Regional Commission on Section 571 projects,” said Jason Stick, a project manager in Baltimore District’s Civil Programs and Project Controls Office, which administers these programs. “Once we established criteria for what we were looking for on the invoices, the reimbursements went very smoothly.”
Maintaining clear communication throughout the life of the project is critical to ensuring success, he added.
Congress has returned to Section 571 repeatedly in the years since its rollout, with each amendment reaffirming the same purpose outlined in the program’s name: design and construction assistance to non-federal interests carrying out water-related environmental infrastructure and resource protection projects in the counties of northern West Virginia.
The path to this specific project began in early 2019, when residents and property owners in Purgitsville first approached USACE's Huntington District about the condition of their well water. In 2021, Huntington District informed the Central Hampshire Public Service District that the project had been selected for reimbursement under Section 571 and that responsibility for the work fell within the purview of Baltimore District, whose Planning Division undertook an environmental assessment (EA) of the proposed work.
“The EA evaluates the potential environmental, socioeconomic, and public infrastructure impacts associated with the project,” said Chris Johnson, a Baltimore District biologist who prepared the assessment. “In this instance, impacts range from minor to moderate, but USACE works closely with the non-federal sponsor to develop best management practices for erosion and sediment control measures and time-of-year restrictions. USACE is happy to support this program because it’s efficient and provides real solutions to everyday problems that people face, especially when it comes to public health.”
Johnson said projects like these also support the Safe Drinking Water Act (which authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency to set minimum, legally enforceable standards for tap water quality) and the Protection of Children Executive Order, which assesses environmental health risks that are attributable to products or substances with which children are likely to come into contact.
“It is our responsibility as a federal agency to serve the public and to ensure appropriate infrastructure is available to those who need it most,” said Johnson.
A West Virginia Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council grant, a Small Cities Block Grant, and the Section 571 program layer the funding for the project, with Section 571 covering a defined subset of the overall cost. What is now in progress represents both statutory groundwork and collaborative action to put clean water in the taps of a rural West Virginia community.
While Purgitsville illustrates how USACE can resolve water crises in rural areas, other communities face infrastructure threats of a different kind: overwhelmed and aging municipal stormwater systems. Approximately 90 miles northeast, the Borough of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, faced such water management difficulties.
Sprawling impervious surfaces and outdated infrastructure at the Southgate Shopping Center had led to significant unmanaged stormwater runoff. During heavy rains, untreated surface water flooded the area and flowed directly into the Conococheague Creek, a major tributary of the Potomac River, carrying pollutants and sediment along with it.
To resolve this hazard, USACE partnered with the Chambersburg Area Municipal Authority on the Southgate Stormwater Management Improvements Project, relying on Section 313 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1992, which established the South Central Pennsylvania Environmental Improvement Program.
This project, currently under construction, modernizes the local infrastructure by replacing outdated piping and constructing a state-of-the-art retention basin, a solution that utilizes native vegetation and engineered soil layers to filter out pollutants, control flow rates, and dramatically improve the water quality entering Conococheague Creek.
“The Section 313 program was key to the Southgate stormwater upgrade project in Chambersburg,” said Stick. “This program provided $3.5M in federal funding to upgrade stormwater infrastructure and add best management practices and bioretention facilities in an area that previously had none.”
Stick also said it is unlikely the Borough of Chambersburg would have been able to implement this project without the funding provided by Section 313.
Like West Virginia’s 571, Section 313 allows USACE to reimburse up to 75 percent of the design and construction costs to the non-federal sponsor, substantially easing the financial pressure on local municipalities. Clear USACE guidance also helps get the project off the ground.
“USACE sends the non-federal sponsor reviewed and approved environmental assessments to help the process go more efficiently,” said Johnson, who also worked on the Southgate environmental assessment. “USACE also makes it known that all permits should be started or processed as the environmental assessment is being developed.”
Under both mechanisms, that sponsor, whether the Central Hampshire Public Service District or the Chambersburg Area Municipal Authority, retains ownership of the finished facility and USACE reimburses eligible costs.
USACE is set to deploy another funding mechanism, Section 219 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1992 (a general environmental infrastructure authority with projects nationwide), in Maryland with the upcoming Easton Utilities Commission New Well #14 project. This includes a new groundwater supply well and well housing to improve water quality and reliability for the University of Maryland Shore Regional Medical Center, scheduled to open in 2028.
“Within Baltimore District’s area of responsibility, we have numerous environmental infrastructure authorities designed to assist communities with a variety of needs,” said Stick. “The Section 219 program works more like a typical Civil Works program where USACE is responsible for design and construction.”
This infrastructure is vital for the new campus and for healthcare services in the region, providing a critical increase in water supply and acting as a necessary redundancy to an existing flood-prone pump station. Once operational, the well will pump and treat groundwater before feeding it directly into the existing public water main.
USACE continues to demonstrate how federal cost-sharing programs can be tailored to meet unique municipal needs. Whether securing clean drinking water for rural homes, mitigating urban runoff, or supporting state-of-the-art regional medical campuses, these partnerships lead to safer, healthier, and more resilient communities.
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