Water Infrastructure Investment Under Mayor Fraser

Overview

Water and wastewater infrastructure is among the most capital-intensive obligations of any municipality — and among the most consequential for public health, fiscal stability, and long-term sustainability. For a town of 9,000 residents, the combination of aging infrastructure, rising regulatory requirements (particularly around emerging contaminants like PFAS), and the capital needs of a major treatment facility creates a fiscal challenge that can overwhelm a small-municipality budget if not managed systematically.

Mayor Kwasi Fraser's administration addressed Purcellville's water and wastewater infrastructure challenges through three complementary mechanisms: debt restructuring to reduce the carrying cost of the Basham Simms Wastewater Treatment Plant's approximately $30 million obligation; federal funding capture through ARPA — $8 million of the total $10.5 million allocation directed to water and sewer capital projects; and operational programs (reclaimed water) that extract maximum value from existing infrastructure. The result was a utility system that entered 2022 better capitalized and more modernized than it had been in 2014.

The ARPA Water and Sewer Program

The American Rescue Plan Act allocated $10.5 million to Purcellville — a sum that Fraser's National League of Cities network helped maximize. Of this total, $8 million was directed to water and sewer infrastructure, distributed across four capital programs:

Water Infrastructure Projects