New sewage system could save local town

DANA, Ind. (WTHI) - Over $26 million in federal stimulus funding is headed to Indiana from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Part of that money is going for a new sewage system in the Wabash Valley.

Tom Gilbert loves living in the small town of Dana, Ind. As town board president, he has been working to get a sewer system installed here.

In Terre Haute, human waste flows to a waste water treatment facility. But in Dana, waste flushes into septic tanks and drains from there.

"I don't know where it goes from there, into the ground. It's something that has been done for a 100 years," Gilbert said.

The problem, is when a business or home burns down or falls apart.

"It takes so much land to put in the finger system that the state requires you to have for your sewage if your building a new home and most people in this town don't own that much property where their houses are sitting," said Gilbert.

The new sewer system will cost around $6.2 million  to construct, with $5.7 million hopefully coming from USDA loans and grants.

After living here for 50 years, resident Earnest Payton doesn't want to see his town wilt away anymore.

"I don't want to see our town die and that's what it's doing now," said Payton.

The proposed sewer system will pour on another bill.

"The more grant money we can get the cheaper we can get the rates for people in town," said Gilbert

If all the money is granted construction is slated to begin in Spring of 2010.