MONROE COUNTY, Ga. — For years, people in Monroe County have been voicing their frustrations about contaminated water -- especially in Juliette -- and poor internet access.
The county has two projects in place to solve these issues, but they're going to need the help of the federal government.
Monroe County commissioners voted to use $5 million in Federal Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to finish them up. They are Phase 3 of the Juliette water line expansion project, and the county's internet expansion project.
Matthew LeFever has worked at Harbin Repairs for five years.
LeFever says the internet is so spotty in Monroe County that people sometimes come into the store thinking something is wrong with their computer.
"I have diagnosed a lot of issues and it boils down to their internet, not their computers," said LeFever.
LeFever says the speed of your internet often depends on where you are.
"You'll have areas in which it's not great at all and you'll get the lowest speeds, probably around 3MB per second," he said.
Monroe County commissioners have been working with two electric providers to bring high-speed internet access to all parts of the county.
"With the pandemic, it became so clear, the disparity of people that have internet and people who don't. Rural America has really taken a beating without internet," said commissioner George Emami.
Emami says the county will use $5 million in federal funds to finish paying off this project and to complete Phase 3 of the Juliette water line expansion project.
"If you were following along with what happened in Texas with their freeze over the winter, it shut down a lot of the plants. One of the biggest things that happened... it shut down a plant that makes a resin that goes into all of the water pipes," said Emami.
Emami says the price of the resin turned a $16 million water project into a $22 million one. He says thanks to the federal funds, the county can now pay the difference.
"Regardless of what the cause of the issues were with the wells and around Juliette, we realized that there was a problem and we're stepping up to try to solve that problem. We're glad to have help from the federal government to help pay for these things, but we would have done it regardless because we believe that they are important," Emami said.
He says he expects the water expansion project to wrap up in the next eight months, and for the internet expansion project to wrap up by the end of July 2022.
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