Morehouse receives $5M grant for new wastewater treatment facility

MOREHOUSE, Mo. — Christmas came early for Morehouse.

In November Morehouse Mayor Joe Brashear learned the community would received a $5 million grant funded through the Department of Natural Resources by the federal government’s American Rescue Plan Act. The money will enable Morehouse to upgrade its wastewater treatment facility.

“Our current one is in bad shape,” Brashear said. “This is going to allow us to build a new lagoon and we are going to be able purchase some land.”

According to the mayor, the land will be used to apply wastewater as fertilizer. Also the grant will enable the city to line some sewer mains and complete some manhole rehabilitation in the collection system.

Brashear described receiving the grant as a make-or-break situation for the community.

He explained following his election as mayor in April 2021, he learned DNR had begun enforcement actions against Morehouse because the town was not meeting its discharge limits for e-coli or ammonia. As a result DNR required the city to pass bonds to upgrade its water and wastewater systems.

“Without getting the $5 million wastewater grant, the city would have had to pass additional bonds and take on debt to get these improvements that DNR mandated we do,” he said. “By getting these grants, now we don’t have to raise our rates and take on 30 years worth of (bond) payments. We are a community with an elderly and low income population so any rate increase really hurts our residents.”

With an engineering report for the new wastewater facility already complete, Brashear said he is in hopes work can begin in 2023 on the new facility.

There was more good news for Morehouse.

DNR also awarded the community a $200,000 grant for lead service line inventory. That grant will fund inspection of services lines from the water meters to residences to determine if there are any lead service lines.

The government has banned the use of any water-service lines containing lead.

Brashear praised Morehouse City Clerk Gayle Childs for her work along with the assistance of Mary West-Calgagno with Missouri Rural Water Association for enabling the small community to receive the grants.

Also he pointed out the assistance provided by New Madrid County Commissioners Mark Baker, Bobby Aycock and Michael Kellams. He explained the commissioners made water and sewer projects in the county’s communities a priority when awarding the federal ARPA funds received by the County.

“They helped the city do some lift station upgrades that we would not have been able to afford,” he said. “If they would have just helped me purchase one pump for the town’s lift stations I would have be so happy but I walked out of there and they signed off on both phases of the project. I believe the cost was somewhere around $351,000 that the county paid for the city of Morehouse to get our lift stations up to code. I was amazed.”

With the awarding of these grants, Brashear and the city are looking for other grants to bring improvements to town.

Earlier this month working with the Bootheel Regional Planning Commission, the town council conducted a public hearing. Following the hearing, a resolution was approved to seek a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant for the paving of 14 streets, including some which are still gravel.

As part of the city’s contribution, the County Commissioners have agreed that the New Madrid County Highway Department would provide in-kind services of $115,000 by hauling asphalt and doing the paving.

Brashear said he is excited about what is ahead for Morehouse. He noted the recent grants along with an earlier grant to construct a new community center and those grants city is continuing to seek will bring needed improvements for residents.

“If you don’t go out there and seek grants it is very hard for a small community like this to be able to keep up,” he said. “But I have a good board. We all seem to be seeing the big picture and looking ahead and trying to get things built back up the way they should be.”