The long-awaited wastewater management project at Snowshoe has taken another step toward completion. The Pocahontas County Public Service District voted last summer to build the centralized facility at site 7, on Snowshoe Drive.

“We voted for our sewer project in August,” said PSD chairman Tom Shipley. “The next step going forward was to have it approved for funding by the Infrastructure, Jobs and Development Council. They very generously voted to fund our project with a zero percent loan.”

Shipley said now the project will go on to the next phase — final engineering.

“That's where the DEP engineers will work with our engineer, Waste Water Management, to dot all the Is and cross all the Ts,” said Shipley. “After that process the next phase will be to seek a certificate of need from the Public Service Commission. That's the final step before construction begins.”

Shipley said the funding approval from IJDC is a step in the right direction.

“These things take several months, but the process has started,” he said. “The board will work to make sure that we get this done in a timely manner.”

The total approved project cost by the IJDC was $21,895,711.

“There will be a notice published which will allow for a thirty day public comment,” said Shipley. “At that time, we'll know whether or not there will be agreement by the community or not.”