 Efforts to improve water quality in the Cumberland River got a boost when the City of Harlan broke ground on a $1.4 million construction project to extend sewer service into the Sunshine community, which sits on the river’s Martin Fork. Upon completion the project will connect about 300 homes, many of which currently use failing septic systems or send wastewater directly into the river, to the Harlan Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Harlan Mayor Daniel Howard hosted a groundbreaking ceremony in Sunshine on Feb. 27, 2006. The featured speakers were U.S. Representative Hal Rogers (KY-05), State Director of Rural Development Kenneth Slone, and Sunshine resident Katherine Childs.
To view photos from the groundbreaking ceremony, click here.
“I commend the elected officials and citizens of Harlan County for their diligence in cleaning up the Cumberland River and its tributaries,” Rogers said. “You are working hard to solve problems that took decades to create. Change will not happen overnight, but you are moving in the right direction. I encourage you to keep up your efforts. Harlan County’s natural beauty and resources are a Kentucky treasure, and I am pleased to see so many people working together to restore them to their pristine condition.”
“Along with our recent sewer projects along Catron Creek, the Sunshine project will make a large impact on this watershed,” Mayor Howard said. “This problem was identified years ago, and we now can afford to do something about it, thanks to PRIDE and Congressman Rogers.”
“My neighbors and I want the sewer project,” said Childs, a 91-year-old retired school teacher who has lived in Sunshine since 1989. “The environment and the soil is being contaminated. The odors are bad due to inoperable septic tanks.”
Sunshine’s current sewage problems began when the community was established before World War II. Typical of the era’s coal camps, houses were built close together, and the small property lots later doomed septic systems to failure. Some homes still are tied to a community straight pipe into the Martin Fork, which was considered a modern convenience at the time.
Sunshine residents have long sought access to public sewer service, and state and local officials have considered the lack of sewage treatment in the area to be a public health threat. High levels of bacteria from untreated sewage in the Martin Fork put the area on the Kentucky Division of Water’s list of sites unsafe for swimming.
Construction of the new sewer lines is expected to be complete by mid-summer. The construction company is Ash Mountain, Inc. The project plans were designed by Leo Miller & Associates.
The City of Harlan received a PRIDE Wastewater Construction Grant for $1,401,551 to fund the Sunshine sewer project. Since 1997, more than $111 million in PRIDE-related funds have been invested to provide either septic systems or public sewer service to 26,000 homes in the region.
PRIDE assists communities in 38 counties of southern and eastern Kentucky with projects that improve water quality, clean up solid waste problems and promote environmental education. Rogers co-founded the PRIDE initiative in 1997 with the late James E. Bickford, who was secretary of the state’s Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet. They shared a vision for restoring their native region’s natural beauty by encouraging citizens to take personal responsibility for the environment and providing the resources they needed to do so.
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