A handful of Carroll County citizens are taking matters into their own hands to get county water services.

Residents along Happy Hollow Road in northwest Carroll will be participating in the Self-Help Virginia program, which uses Department of Housing and Community Development grants along with community labor to lessen the cost of receiving water for areas interested in hooking into the services. This will be the first time Carroll County residents will be taking advantage of the project.

Happy Hollow resident Christie Bowers said the water in the area is saturated with sulfur and iron, which ruins washables.

“You couldn’t have anything new or decent because the water stains everything,” Bowers said. “There’s one house that has sand and sulfur. It gets worse as the road goes down.”

Carroll County Public Services Authority Director Ray Hill said the Happy Hollow residents are in need of the county water services and he’s glad to see that they are getting this opportunity.

“It’s great,” Hill said. “Those people really need the water and this allows us to get that water line extended with their participation and grant money from DHCD so it works out really good.”

Bowers said she was told if the county was to make the connections to the water services, the costs would be prohibitive. With the grant, the county provides the pipes, a backhoe and its operator, as well as a few hard hats.

“The county told us if they had to take a loan out to get the water, we would have to pay a $750 hookup fee from the road to each house and $112 a month for water,” she said. “If we do it this way, we bypass the $750 hookup fee and get 2,000 gallons for $22.”

Bowers estimated anywhere from 18 to 22 households along Happy Hollow Road and two branching road that will also be affected by the services.

On Saturday, the residents were given a short instructional session on laying pipe in preparation for the upcoming work. Hill said he was hopeful the residents could begin working next week.

“We just opened the bids on materials (Oct. 16) at 2 p.m.,” Hill said. “We’re expecting our first shipment of materials to happen in about a week.”

Bowers said once work begins, residents will be on the job from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Mondays and from noon to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays. She said she’s hopeful the work can be done in a reasonable amount of time.

“We’re looking forward to it and keeping our fingers crossed that everything goes as well as it looks on paper,” Bowers said ”Everything looks good on paper.”

Hill said the county is also keeping an eye on the project and how it progresses. He said a successful connection could open the door for more Self-Help Virginia projects in Carroll County in the future.

“We’re already looking at a couple more areas,” Hill said. “If this is successful, we will apply for the funding to do it again.”