The Sperryville sewer system has hit another snag. The

The Sperryville sewer system has hit another snag. The county’s Water and Sewer Authority members learned Monday night that they must produce guarantees for money to pay for final design of the collection system and treatment plant before the engineers will go to work.

Although there’s still a chance that revenue anticipated from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Community Development Block Grant program won’t be forthcoming, Sperryville is practically assured of getting the almost $1.9 million in outside help to build the long delayed sewer system. But the WSA won't have a lock on the money until the grants are actually awarded this fall. And the design work must begin in June in order for the project to qualify for the $1.4 million construction grant in October.

Understandably, the engineers are unwilling to start until they know for certain, positively and absolutely that they will be paid for their work, a bill which will run somewhere between $80,000 and $108,000. If they don’t get going by June 1 there’s no way that the necessary work can be accomplished in time to qualify for the $1.4 million from EPA that the Sperryville project is slated to get on the basis of its fifth place ranking in Virginia for construction money.

It's a "catch 22” situation and the board of supervisors hold the key.

The WSA plans to ask the board to guarantee payment for design work in case the unexpected happens and the grant funds aren’t awarded to Sperryville this fall.

It’s a very small risk. All the experts on the new block grant program rate the village’s sewer project as having about the best chance in the state at securing money from that source. The WSA has received formal notification of Sperryville’s number five priority in the state for construction money from