If Jackson County officials want to implement a sanitary sewer system in the Uniontown area, it will likely have a price tag of more than $20 million.

That’s the message Jackson County commissioners received during their meeting on Tuesday morning from officials with HWC Engineering.

In March, commissioners approved a $25,000 contract with that Indianapolis-based firm to conduct a study that would lay out the feasibility and costs of constructing a sanitary sewer system in the Uniontown area. That system would be designed to pave the way for future development in the east central part of the county between Seymour and Crothersville.

Todd Solomon, senior project engineer for HWC, went over the data from that study with the commissioners during the meeting and said the total cost for the project is estimated at $21 million.

The first phase of that project, which includes building lift stations, would cost $11.2 million. Of that cost, $4.5 million would go toward constructing a wastewater treatment plant.

An additional $10 million would go toward building out pipelines to connect area houses and buildings to the sanitary sewer system in an area surrounding the plant. That would be the second phase and would not be completed at one time but as the system grows and adds customers to generate revenue.

The commissioners did not vote or make a motion in regards to the sewer system study.

The county has received $8.58 million in funding through the federal American Rescue Plan Act, some of which could be used toward the project. Municipalities are allowed to spend ARP funds on infrastructure projects, so the Uniontown sewer project can potentially be funded with ARP dollars.

Additional funding for the project is expected to come from the $1.84 million the county has received from the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) grant.

The program was created by the state in 2021 to encourage Indiana counties, cities and municipalities to work together as regions to create projects that would better the growth. Jackson County is part of the South Central Indiana Talent Region, which also consists of Bartholomew and Jennings counties and the town of Edinburgh.