By ADAM ATKINSON

CANTON – Tisdel Associates will submit an engineering proposal to USDA Rural Development for planned water system improvements in the village here.

The village board also recently agreed to contract with the Canton-based Tisdell to serve as a lead agency on the project.

Submission of the report and contracting a firm to do the design are requirements to apply for funding from USDA for improvements to the system, said village Mayor Michael Dalton at a recent village board meeting.

The project could end up costing $9.8 million.

“This is the beginning of infrastructure work,” said Dalton at the board meeting. “And this engineering report is needed to begin the process to apply for funding through USDA Rural Development.”

Dalton said the report covers six different areas which need to be addressed. Submission of the report, and the contract with Tisdell are not guarantees of funding, the mayor said, but it puts the village in line to be considered for USDA money to pay for the work.

At the meeting, Aaron Jarvis of Tisdel said the study details installation of a new production well [required by the state health department], distribution lines to the Tallman property and off Waterman Hill, and connecting transmission lines to bring two water lines together, one of which will allow the Community Bank building on Maple Hill to receive village.

Refurbishment of the village’s water towers, notably the one on Judson Street Road, and a radio read system to allow remote and mobile reading of village residential water meters are also part of the planned improvements included in the report.

Jarvis said the Waterman Hill line was established in 1916. The 6-mile, 100-year-old line is supplying water to the village and it has issues. “It’s beginning to be problematic,” Jarvis said.

“You can’t have economic growth or development without being able to supply services for that growth,” said Mayor Dalton in an interview later. “We always try to stay ahead of the curve.”

The mayor said that one key piece to the overall village water system improvement proposed is a secondary water source which the village located last spring.

The site, behind the E.J. Noble Medical building at 80 East Main St., on St. Lawrence University land, has already been drilled and tested. The village will have access to the site through a cooperative agreement with SLU and St. Lawrence Health Systems, the owners of the E.J. Noble building. While the secondary site will not supply all of the village’s water needs should it be called into service during an emergency, it will provide a large amount of water, the mayor said.

Dalton said the village has received grant funding from other sources to help with parts of the overall water system project. The recent move by the village to have Tisdell submit proposals to the USDA will place the village in a queue to receive funding from the federal government. However, the project is still in preliminary stages, the mayor said, and any funding the village may receive from the USDA could take a variety of forms, either grants or loans.

“It’s a big number for a small village,” said the mayor, referring to the estimated $9.8 million cost of the proposed work involved.

The mayor said the village would like to begin work on certain parts of the water system overhaul in the spring.

“This stuff has to get done,” the mayor said. “The people that are here, when they turn their tap on, they expect clean, safe water. And we have to provide that. We take tremendous pride in the quality of what we do here, and what we provide our residents.”