The Marengo County Commission on Tuesday approved a resolution that will provide $133,700 to extend water service to residents on Old Macedonia Road in western Marengo County, which runs to the south and west of the community of Jefferson.

Of that funding, $123,700 will come from the Delta Regional Authority, with $10,000 coming from the Marengo County Commission for construction and administration costs.

The commission will contract with the Alabama Tombigbee Regional Commission for administrative services after the grant is awarded.

The resolution will become official after Myrtlewood mayor Mitchell Hall signs it. The extension will come from the West Dallas Water Authority in Selma.

“This will provide almost the entire county with drinking water,” said commission chair Jerry Loftin. “I know that McKinley (in eastern Marengo County) still has some problems.

“This is something that started in 1987; the first project was over in Flatwoods in District 4. It’s taken 23 years to get it done.”

Also at the county commission meeting on Tuesday, county engineer Ken Atkins told the commission that the next projects for the county road department would be to improve bridges on County Road 44. County Road 38 and County Road 21; paving on County Road 47 from County Road 33 south to Magnolia; and completing Rangeline Road (County Road 21) from its intersection with County Road 19 north to U.S. Highway 80 in Demopolis. He added that work on County Road 16 was in the planning stages.

Atkins added that these projects may take two or three years to complete, as the department gets $533,000 per year in federal funding for its projects.

“All of these are federal-aid jobs,” Atkins said. “The federal government still hasn’t passed the transportation bill. We get that every October. It could still be there, or it could not be.”