Mound Bayou Water System Upgrades Bring New Investment to the Delta

Mound Bayou, Mississippi, in Bolivar County, was founded in 1887 by formerly enslaved settlers who built one of the nation’s first self-governed Black towns from 840 acres of Delta timberland. Nearly 140 years later, its roughly 1,500 residents are still relying on water and sewer infrastructure that was never built to last this long.

Mayor Leighton Aldridge has spent his five years in office pursuing grants and affordable financing to address a system that dates largely to the late 1970s.

“With the wastewater, it’s been a struggle because we’ve had sewer backups in homes, businesses and even at our lift stations,” Aldridge said. “Some of those lift stations are more than 20 years old, and they simply weren’t maintained the way they should have been.”

But the work underway today is also the result of years spent strengthening the city’s ability to plan for infrastructure needs, pursue funding and manage long-term improvements.

A System Stretched Thin

The city has already replaced its main lift station using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The new station carries wastewater to the city’s lagoon and is sized to handle current demand while allowing for future growth.

On the drinking water side, aging infrastructure has created a different set of problems. Mound Bayou’s primary well has been running around the clock because it cannot build enough pressure on its own. At times, crews have had to bring a backup well online just to keep up.

Mid-South Water estimated repairs to the primary well at roughly $45,000, plus another $10,000 to $15,000 in labor. Meanwhile, aging water lines have required repair after repair. Since taking office in 2021, Aldridge said the city has spent more than $120,000 fixing leaks, only to see increased pressure contribute to failures farther down the same lines.

“It’s been an ongoing cycle,” he said.

Investment Begins to Catch Up

That cycle could soon begin to change.

Mound Bayou secured a 20-year, $5 million loan through Mississippi’s Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund (DWSRF) to drill a new well and replace aging water mains. The loan is fully forgivable.

“I don’t believe Mound Bayou has received this level of infrastructure investment in at least 25 to 30 years,” Aldridge said.

Once the new well is online, the existing primary well can serve as a backup instead of carrying the system around the clock. Aldridge also expects the improvements to help address the brown, mineral-heavy water residents have experienced over the years.

Engineers are finalizing work plan approvals with the state before construction bids can go out, with work expected to continue through 2028.

For Communities Unlimited (CU) Mississippi State Coordinator Shannon McCranie, the investment represents more than another funded infrastructure project. It reflects how far Mound Bayou has come after years of work to strengthen the utility itself.

Building Capacity Over Time

McCranie began working with Mound Bayou around 2019-2020, when the city was struggling to compile financial records and other documentation required by USDA. Some of the earliest work with the city focused on helping local leaders address those issues and put the utility in a better position to pursue future funding, part of CU’s broader water and wastewater systems work.

Over the years, CU has assisted Mound Bayou with rate studies, asset management planning, emergency response planning, vulnerability assessments, public education, SRF applications, and funding coordination.

Much of that assistance happened behind the scenes through site visits, phone calls, board meetings, document reviews, updated plans and repeated follow-up to help the city assemble the information needed to keep projects moving. McCranie has worked alongside mayors, city staff, utility operators, engineers and state and federal partners, including EPA, USDA and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ).

The city pursued its new drinking water loan independently, but Aldridge said CU’s technical assistance has helped Mound Bayou build its capacity to navigate increasingly complex infrastructure projects and funding opportunities.

“Their guidance has helped us better understand the process and positioned us to pursue funding more effectively,” the mayor said.

Extending Sewer Service Beyond Mound Bayou

One of the clearest examples of that progress can be found just outside the city limits.

Dunlap is an unincorporated community of about 34 homes next to Mound Bayou. Residents receive drinking water from the city’s system but historically had no centralized sewer service. Instead, households relied on septic systems, some of which failed and allowed sewage to pool on residents’ properties.

The area’s persistent poverty made affordability a central consideration in finding a long-term solution.

Through EPA and USDA’s Closing America’s Wastewater Access Gap initiative, CU joined Mound Bayou and other partners in evaluating a long-term wastewater solution for Dunlap.

Weighing Centralized vs. Decentralized Options

Two options were evaluated: extending Mound Bayou’s centralized sewer system into Dunlap or installing advanced decentralized septic systems.

The centralized option offered lower long-term costs and allowed Dunlap to use an existing utility rather than creating a separate entity to oversee and maintain individual systems.

In August 2023, Mound Bayou’s board and Dunlap residents unanimously chose the centralized sewer extension.

The project received a $2.6 million loan, including $2 million in principal forgiveness, to extend Mound Bayou’s sewer system into Dunlap. CU supported the effort alongside federal, state and local partners through technical assistance and funding coordination, while Cook Coggin Engineers handled engineering work.

Dunlap homes are now connected to Mound Bayou’s wastewater system, bringing reliable sewer service to its residents for the first time.

What Comes Next

Mound Bayou still has significant work ahead. The next markers of progress will be new water infrastructure in the ground and, eventually, fewer leaks, stronger water pressure and a more reliable system for residents.

But the city is approaching those challenges from a different position than it was several years ago.

Years of planning, documentation, technical assistance and coordination have helped strengthen the utility’s ability to pursue projects that once may have been difficult to move forward. Now, that capacity is translating into millions of dollars in water and wastewater investment.

“I just appreciate everything Communities Unlimited has done for Mound Bayou,” Aldridge said. “They’ve been there to help guide us, point us in the right direction and support us as we make important decisions for our community. Their assistance has been valuable as we work to restore our infrastructure and get the town back to where it needs to be.”