The town of Goshen has been awarded a grant to fund a $325,000 project to replace 3-inch water mains with 6-inch water mains throughout the town.

“This is a big deal,” said Mayor Darren Jordan. “It’s not advised for a fire truck to pump off of a three-inch water main, and some of our three-inch mains are in residential areas. Once we put in the six-inch mains, we can out in fire hydrants to better serve the people in those areas. When you can put a fire hydrant close to houses, that’s a win for everybody. Three times the water volume can be pumped from a six-inch main compared to a three-inch main.”

Jordan, who is also a Goshen volunteer firefighter, said the  upgrade will also hopefully improve the town’s ISO rating, which can bring lower insurance rates for homeowners.

“It’s a major problem with small municipalities in rural areas; the main thing that hurts them with ISO grading is the water,” Jordan said. “We’re hoping this will be a big help.”

The project will also include adding additional cutoffs so that the town can better manage leak repairs.

“It will tie the system together and allow us to better isolate a water leak,” Jordan said. “If we would currently have to shut one-third of our residents’ water off, this would bring that down to just 15 o 20 percent of our customers. It keeps customers from being without water if we have a leak; we can isolate it and get it back on quicker and affect least amount of people as possible.”

Jordan said the town has been applying for this grant for the past four years and was finally able to receive an award.

“None of this could have been made possible without the assistance of ADECA, Representative Wes Allen, Mrs. Ashton Hutchinson and her staff, and our town council. We are committed to improving our community through selfless dedication to the individuals who live and work here.”