Hagerstown Missed Out on $34 Million for Edgemont. Water Infrastructure Can't Stay on the Back Burner.

I'll be the first person to admit that a reservoir rehabilitation application doesn't sound as exciting as a new business opening downtown. But I'd argue it's more important than a whole lot of the things we spend time talking about. Because you only need water infrastructure to fail once before everybody suddenly wants to know who's responsible.

Hagerstown officials told the city council at a September 15 work session that an approximately $34.1 million funding application for Edgemont Reservoir wasn't successful that round. The request included about $4.1 million in local funding, and staff said the project didn't rank high enough to receive an award.

See, that gets my attention. The city could be making real progress on other projects while still struggling to fund a major reservoir job. Staff explained that Edgemont fits parts of several funding categories without landing neatly in any one of them. State officials offered advice for making the application stronger before another submission expected in January.

A paperwork problem is still a real problem.

I understand governments have competitive grants and limited money. They can't approve every application. But residents aren't looking at a dam thinking, 'Well, at least our proposal scored pretty well in category three.' They wanna know the structure is being assessed, that repairs are planned, and that there's a financing path.

To be fair, Hagerstown didn't stop work because the money got denied. The report says engineers continued design work, and staff were aiming to move toward construction bidding. Other wastewater plant phases had over $35 million in funding support, and city officials anticipated roughly $3.1 million for lead service line work, subject to the stated financing terms.

That's good. It also creates a fair follow-up question: what if the next reservoir application doesn't get approved either? How much can the city handle locally? Does the schedule slip? And are residents getting a clear explanation instead of finding out another year passed at the next council meeting?

I'm not claiming the reservoir is about to collapse or that the city's drinking water is unsafe. That would be irresponsible. Hazen and Sawyer's engineering background explains longstanding dam-safety and seepage concerns; the funding discussion is about how rehabilitation progresses, not a confirmed emergency in September.

You shouldn't have to wait for an infrastructure disaster to care about the infrastructure budget.6ix

I'll give the city credit for continuing engineering work and securing money for other systems. But I want that same level of energy on making Edgemont's path clear. This is one of those stories where the real achievement won't be a press release. It'll be the work getting done.