We are happy for Taylor Countians following Tuesday's announcement that a water improvement project that has been in the planning stages for more than six and a half years will be getting 50 homes off well water.
The Appalachian Regional Commission awarded the $750,000 grant to the Mountain View Water Improvement Project, and those funds, along with a $1.55 million Rural Utility Services loan, will open up the western portion of Taylor County for development.
Taylor County Commission President Tony Veltri hailed the news, explaining that the funds will enhance the quality of life in the county and "will help us prosper and go forward."
Still, it's a shame that contractors interested in building housing developments in the western sector of Taylor County for years had to be turned away because, as Mountain View President John Kisner said, "It would have overloaded the system."
That is, although it now serves 550 households, to date the water system designed for 250 homes back in the late Ô60s would have had to shut down if efforts were made to hook any more homes into it.
And although it will be virtually impossible to determine the amount of time between when the funding is received and the project can be finished, money tends to talk, so another eight-year wait is rather unlikely.
With two new lines -- out U.S. Route 50 toward Harrison County and U.S. 250 toward Marion County -- the project will also upgrade existing lines and add pump stations to move the water along.
We regard this as great news for Taylor County. Now a region with great potential will become yet more marketable.
And as icing on the cake, building contractors will no longer have to be turned away.
--Robert F. Stealey