Century Accepts $468K In State Funds For Water Well Upgrades

August 25, 2021

The Town of Century has approved the paperwork to receive $468,453 for water well upgrades as approved by the Florida Legislature.

Century has three water wells — two provide drinking water to the residents of Century and one provides water exclusively to the Century Correctional Institution.

The first well on Blackmon Street and was constructed in 1963 with a pumping capacity of 400 gallons per minute. The adjacent elevated tank has a capacity of 100,000 gallons.

The second well is on Academy Street and was constructed in 1983. It has a pumping capacity of 500 gallons per minute and an elevated tank with a half million gallon capacity. The well had been out of service for over a year before being placed back in service in August 2020 only to fail again. As of June 2, it remained out of service.

The third well was constructed at the prison in 1983 and can pump 400 gallons a minute with 200,000 gallon elevated storage tank. The well failed in May 2020, and the water supply to the prison was restored through an interconnect to Central Water Works.

As of earlier this year when Century asked for state help, the town had spent $353,360.47 so far for repairs to the three wells and the interconnect to Central Water Works. The funding in this year’s state budget includes $107,000 for repairs and wellhouse rehabilitations at the Academy Street well, $90,00 for repairs at the Blackmon Street well, and $210,350 for work at the prison well and a permanent generator.

The money was part of local funding requests submitted by Rep. Michelle Salzman and Sen. Doug Broxson.

Monday night, the town council approved signing the paperwork to receive the money from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The funds will be disbursed on a cost reimbursement basis after work is actually performed and approved.

Pictured: Water flows into the Century Correctional Institution in May 2020 through an emergency interconnect to Central Water Works following the failure of a Century water well. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Comments

2 Responses to “Century Accepts $468K In State Funds For Water Well Upgrades”

  1. William 2 on August 25th, 2021 4:03 pm

    My thoughts exactly Sam, the state needs to make sure that every penny is accounted for because of the history this town has with funds.

  2. sam on August 25th, 2021 6:15 am

    lets hope the money goes toward the water problem.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News