PELL CITY — The Coosa Valley Water Supply District met Wednesday and authorized Chairman Paul Manning to sign contracts with the entities involved in the water project.

“This has been a long time coming,” Manning said.

The St. Clair County Commission, Pell City Council, Springville Council and Odenville Council all approved motions for continued participation in the Coosa Valley Water Supply District. The contracts are needed to secure bond money for the project.

The Lincoln City Council approved a resolution offering to withdraw from membership in the Coosa Valley Water Supply District due to the cost of extending the water line across the Coosa River. That part of the project alone would cost approximately $5 million. A representative from Lincoln was not present at Wednesday’s meeting.

Manning said he anticipated signing the contracts in time for next week’s Coosa Valley Water Supply District meeting.

Bill Trussell, an attorney for the Coosa Valley Water Supply District, said the representatives also needed to discuss the corporate structure of the Coosa Valley Water Supply District.

“We need to discuss the corporate structure because originally the county was not going to participate,” he said.

Trussell said the changes to the corporate structure would require an amendment, and the change needs to be in place before the bonds are marketed.

“We also need to eliminate Lincoln and formally add Springville,” he said.

Mike Walraven, project manager and an engineer for Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood Inc., said it would take about 90 days to secure the bond money after the contracts are signed.

“The total project costs approximately $33.5 million,” he said. “That includes all the engineering, construction and purchasing of easements. We have one easement in Pell City left to purchase, and will bid the raw water intake and pump station in Ragland as soon as we receive the Economic Development Administration grant.”

Walraven said construction should take approximately two years to complete.

Each entity involved in the project is required to purchase 750,000 gallons of water per day. The entities will not have to make any payments until the new surface water treatment plant is up and running.

The plant is expected to begin operation in 2011, and will initially treat 3 mgd (million gallons a day) of water withdrawn from the Coosa River. The plant is expected to increase its operation to 4.5 mgd after about three years and treat 6 mgd of surface water after the plant is in operation four to six years.

The water treatment facility is designed to pump as much as 12 mgd of treated surface water.

Coosa Valley Water Supply District water is expected to cost $2.45 per 1,000 gallons initially, but the price is expected to drop as the demand for water increases.