The Town of Nashville has received all the funding it asked for to carry out four water infrastructure improvement projects.

On Dec. 1, the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs announced a $592,000 grant award to Nashville. The Community Development Block Grant Program awarded $12 million to 25 communities.

Coupled with a $1.2 million low-interest loan the town secured earlier this year from USDA Rural Development, the town has enough money to cover the estimated $1.8 million cost of four projects.

The list includes extending a water main on Freeman Ridge to provide another source of water for town customers; replacing about one-third of the meters throughout the Nashville Utilities system to improve billing accuracy and reduce labor costs; demolishing the unneeded water tank and booster station on the hill at Kirts’ Garage; and replacing the booster station in Schooner Valley to distribute water to town from East Monroe Water Company when needed.

“This is huge,” said Nashville Town Manager/Economic Development Director Scott Rudd, announcing the grant award to town council Dec. 1.

He said the grant process was very competitive.

After the grant letter is signed, the town has 18 months to complete the projects, Rudd said.

He and Town Utility Coordinator Sean Cassiday said they’d like to see the meter replacement project done first, if possible.

The new meters will be able to be read by radio, remotely, instead of by climbing into a pit that might be filled with water, Rudd said.

Especially in winter, eliminating all the physical labor that goes into just reading a meter will be a huge boost to morale among the water staff. It will also save on labor costs, Rudd said.

If a customer suspects a leak, that can also be determined more easily with the new meters, he said.

The other three projects were recommended by engineering firm BLN last year, out of a list that was initially much longer and more expensive.

One other priority project that is not funded yet is installing pressure-reducing valves at key points in the Nashville Utilities water system. BLN found very few working valves, which adjust the pressure of water at different elevations and can help prevent line breaks.

Town council President “Buzz” King encouraged Rudd and Cassiday to find money to pay for that project as well. BLN did not give a cost estimate for valve replacement in its December 2015 preliminary engineering report.