CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) — Greene County officials ceremoniously broke ground on the county’s Raw Water Line and Intake and Pump Station projects on Tuesday after receiving word it had received funding earlier this month.

The two projects are parts of the White Run Reservoir, a multiphase project with the goal of supplying reliable water to Greene and the Town of Stanardsville by 2050.

The reservoir has been a long time coming, as Board of Supervisors Chair Steve Catalano said the project was started in 2000, the same year he joined the board. Over the years, the county has gone back-and-forth with Rapidan Service Authority on how best to tackle the project and started infrastructure projects in Ruckersville, with the hope that one day the reservoir could become a reality.

“As our money got better, everybody moved it as far as they could, got permits, bought string credits,” he said. “It’s a big deal. I think if you if you were in perfect condition, you probably still couldn’t have done it in 15 years by the time you got through the regulatory framework and everything that was happening.”

Catalano added that each previous board has done what they could under their financial limitation, but that now is finally the time where the board is in position to make the project a reality.

The county celebrated the project’s funding with the groundbreaking, which was attended by past and present Board of Supervisors members, county staff and other members of the community.

“I really appreciate you guys coming out,” County Administrator Cathy Schafrik said to the crowd during the event, “because we couldn’t even be here today, if you hadn’t done what you did to make this happen.”

In total, the county received $12 million in grant funds through the Virginia Department of Health, which officials learned they had been awarded on Dec. 1. The General Assembly had previously approved the allocation of $25 million for grant funding this year, with priority going to Greene and the Town of Bowling Green.

Catalano said the project with allow Greene to “catch-up” with the amount of growth that has happened over the past few decades, as much of the growth that has happened in recent years was approved by the BOS in the 1980s and ’90s, but have contracts that the county still need to fulfill.

“We almost forgot about it because nothing happened for long time,” he said of the growth, “and then it seems like there’s a generational shift or something going on where all of a sudden, you’re getting 300 lots, 200 lots, and we need to have water for them. I mean, that’s a contract that was made back then, nobody here made that contract, but it is a contract that has to be fulfilled.”

Speaking at the event, he expressed hope that the project will be able to fill those needs and serve the county for years to come.

“On the county side, this is a very large capital improvement project,” he told the crowd, “probably one of the largest that we’ve ever done, but it is for the future generations of this county. It’s an expandable project, so it will serve us well for a very long time.”

With the $12 million awarded to the county in grants in addition to the $3 million allocated by the General Assembly earlier this year, the total amount of grant funding for this project is $15 million. Catalano praised State Senator Bryce Reeves and Delegate Nick Freitas, who worked with Greene to lobby for funding from the General Assembly to go to water projects in the Commonwealth.

“Hopefully in the future, we can continue on that path,” he said. “It’s still a very expensive project and it’s not without risk.”