Sigurd, Utah, located on the border of Fishlake National Forest, is a town of 435 and varying elevations. The highs and lows of Sigurd’s landscape make it a beautiful place to live, but with an outdated water system, the location caused problems for the residents. For years, the town coped with a small water tank, outdated pipes, and inconsistent water pressure. Most of the system had not been upgraded since its initial construction and each time the pipes broke, a majority of the town was cut off from the water supply until maintenance crews could fix the problem.
Sigurd’s Mayor, Chad Houchin, said, “We had cast iron metal pipes, our water meters didn’t read right, our chlorinator building was ancient, and we only had 250,000 gallons of water storage. We were way below the state requirements.”
Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and USDA Rural Development’s Water and Environmental Program, the town was able to make a major change to their water system with the installation and construction of 60,000 feet of piping, a new storage tank, two chlorination facilities, a metering system, and many more improvements.
These dramatic developments earned Sigurd the “Most Improved Water System” award presented by the Rural Water Association of Utah. The award was announced this year at their annual Spring conference. Awards are based on the impact and magnitude of accomplishments or improvements of a water system.
Mayor Houchin said, “The new pipes increase [the town’s] safety and we couldn’t have done this without good partnerships.” He praised the engineering and construction teams saying, “It’s just an all-around good thing. All of our partners, everyone involved, helped out to make the project possible. It’s not just an award for us; it’s an award for USDA too.”
To find out how your community can benefit from USDA’s water and environmental programs click here.
