A team effort of the Dallas County Commission to bring water service to rural areas continues to make progress, District 4 Commissioner Larry Nickles said during Monday’s commission meeting.

The project, Nickles said, was the idea of Commissioner Curtis Williams and built support through each community.

“Quite a few years ago in the rural areas in our part of the country, we started thinking about water services,” Nickles said. “They continued to support it and found folks that would build it and folks that would supply the water lines.

The second phase of the project, which includes the Orrville area, is ready to begin, Nickles said. Nickles said people need to put their name in the hat to participate in order to benefit from the program.

“Anybody in Phase II that has not signed up needs to go ahead and sign up before they get started,” Nickles said. “Phase II is about to be on the way in the next few days or weeks and I’d like to thank the commissioners Ballard and Williams for their vision, because if you haven’t lived in rural areas, you don’t know how important good clean water and fire hydrants close to the house.”

The project boosts the capabilities of volunteer fire departments and can also decrease homeowner’s insurance premiums by as much as 50 percent, Nickles said.

“In the rural areas that’s a really important thing, and we are thankful for that,” Nickles said.

Williams said they are also working on Phase III in the Marion Junction area.

“Hopefully we can get some people to sign up,” he said. “We definitely appreciate everyone’s help and look forward to making it happen.”